Alteration of mitochondrial bioenergetics due to intravenous injection of a perfluorocarbon emulsion.

Wistar albino rats were intravenously injected with 1 ml of an oxyphoretic emulsion of perfluorobutyl-furane and killed 3, 7 or 30 days later. Mitochondria isolated from the liver and kidneys of treated rats showed a small decrease in the transmembrane electrical potential and a substantial depression of the rates of both ATP synthesis and ADP-stimulated respiration. These alterations in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation appear to be induced by perfluorocarbon and/or tensioactive molecules interacting with hydrophobic cell structures.