Does mitochondrial ATP synthesis decline as a function of change in the membrane environment with ageing.

Cardiac mitochondria isolated from rats fed purified diets of known lipid composition demonstrate a decline in the rates of oxidative phosphorylation, ATP synthesis and oligomycin sensitive ATPase activity as the animal ages. Transitions in these lipid-dependent functions of mitochondrial energy metabolism are concomitant with changes in the lipid environment of the mitochondrial membrane.