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Euflavin and ethidium bromide; inhibitors of mitochondriogenesis in regenerating rat liver
Author(s) -
De Vries H.,
Kroon A.M.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(70)80202-2
Subject(s) - ethidium bromide , chemistry , philosophy , theology , biochemistry , dna
We have described earlier that chloramphenicol and oxytetracycline block the formation of the mitochondrial enzyme cytochrome c oxidase in regenerating rat liver almost completely [l-3] . These antibiotics also inhibit rat-liver mitochondrial protein synthesis in vitro [4] and cytochrome c oxidase formation in cultured rat-heart cells [Z, 51. Apparently the mitochondrial translation system is involved in the formation of functionally active cytochrome c oxidase [2, 31 . Hence, we were interested to know whether the mitochondrial genome is also necessary for the formation of this enzyme. The best way to investigate this point seemed to us the use of the trypanocidal dyes euflavin and ethidium bromide, since these are known to inhibit mitochondrial RNA-synthesis [6-81. This inhibition is caused by the intercalation of the dyes into double-stranded DNA [9] . Furthermore, low concentrations of the dyes completely inhibit mitochondrial protein synthesis in vitro [ 10, 1 l] . This paper describes the effects of low concentrations of euflavin and ethidium bromide on mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase formation in regenerating rat-liver; the results of these experiments show that the formation of this respiratory enzyme is inhibited by the intercalating dyes also in vivo.