Akerman K E
Microsc Acta. 1978 Nov;81(2):147-53.
A metachromatic shift in the spectrum of the cationic dye safranine occurs upon induction of electrical potentials across the mitochondrial membrane by adding respiratory substrate, ATP or a cation conductor valinomycin (when a potassium gradient exists across the membrane) to a mitochondrial suspension. The extent of spectral change correlates linearily to the membrane potential. During the spectral change safranine is taken up by the mitochondria and most of the dye can be recovered in the pellet after centrifugation. By measuring the spectral changes a fairly good estimate of membrane potentials in mitochondria and bacteria is obtained. This method is compared to other optical methods of studying membrane potentials and is possible applications in different systems in the future is discussed.
通过向线粒体悬浮液中添加呼吸底物、ATP或阳离子载体缬氨霉素（当膜两侧存在钾离子梯度时）来诱导跨线粒体膜的电势，阳离子染料番红的光谱会发生异染性位移。光谱变化的程度与膜电位呈线性相关。在光谱变化过程中，番红被线粒体摄取，并且大部分染料在离心后可在沉淀中回收。通过测量光谱变化，可以对线粒体和细菌中的膜电位进行相当准确的估计。将该方法与研究膜电位的其他光学方法进行了比较，并讨论了其在未来不同系统中的可能应用。
