Rhodamine 6G, inhibitor of both H+-ejections from mitochondria energized with ATP and with respiratory substrates.

Rhodamine 6G inhibited ATP hydrolysis by oligomycin-sensitive ATPase, purified from rat liver mitochondria, in good accord with the dose-response curve for its inhibition of energy transduction of ATP synthesis in mitochondria, but it did not inhibit ATP hydrolysis by purified F1. Rhodamine 6G also inhibited both H+-ejections from mitochondria energized with respiratory substrates and with ATP. The present findings show that the inhibitory effect of rhodamine 6G on energy transduction is not due to a modification of the transport system for adenine nucleotides, Pi, and respiratory substrates, and that the inhibition sites of rhodamine 6G are on components related with H+-ejection by redox components and also on F0.