Investigations on the turnover of adrenocortical mitochondria. XVII. A correlated stereological and autoradiographic study of the effects of chronic treatment with ethidium bromide on the growth of the rat zona reticularis mitochondria.

The effects of the prolonged administration of ethidium bromide (EB), at a dose provoking a persistent inhibition of the incorporation of 3H-thymidine and 3H-uridine into the mitochondrial fraction, on the zona reticularis of ACTH-treated rats were investigated. Stereologically, it was found that EB induces noticeable decrease in the total amount of the mitochondrial compartment, mainly due to the reduction in the number of organelles per cell. High resolution autoradiography showed that the mechanism underlying this effects of EB probably involves both the inhibition of mitochondria proliferation and the acceleration of their breakdown as "intact units". These findings suggest that the ACTH-induced maintenance of the zona reticularis mitochondria growth involves mitochondrial DNA reduplication and transcription.