Effects of extracellular zinc ion on the rate of oxygen consumption of rat brain mitochondria.

The inhibitory effect of extracellular zinc ion on the rate of oxygen consumption of rat brain mitochondria pre-incubated in 1.0 mMol Ca(2+)EDTA were determined. There was a significant increase [P < 0.01] in the rate of oxygen consumption in the rat brain mitochondria pre-incubated in 1.0 mMol Ca(2+)EDTA in a succinate initiated reaction. The reverse was the case when the concentration of Ca(2+)EDTA was increased to 10 mMol. A 20 microMol zinc-aspartate was found to have no inhibitory effect on the rate of oxygen consumption of the brain mitochondria pre-incubated with 1.0 mMol Ca(2+)EDTA when compared with the control that lacked 1.0 mMol Ca(2+)EDTA, however there was a significant decrease [P < 0.01] in the rate of oxygen consumption of the rat brain mitochondria in the control experiment.