Uncoupling of oxidative phosphorylation by cadmium ion.

Mitochondria from rat liver were isolated in 0.25 M sucrose according to Schneider (5) and suspended in 1 ml. of 0.25 M sucrose per gm. of fresh liver. Rabbit liver mitochondria, used only for the experiments in Table I, were prepared by grinding the tissue in 0.25 M sucrose in a Waring blendor at reduced speed (6) and were suspended in 1 ml. of sucrose solution per 2 gm. of liver. The reaction mixture (3 ml.) for measuring oxidation and coupled phosphorylation contained 0.013 M potassium phosphate at pH 7.4, 0.002 M ATP, 0.017 M glucose, 0.003 M magnesium chloride, 0.05 mg. of hexokinase, 0.007 M potassium fluoride, 0.017 M succinate, and mitochondrial suspension