Mitochondria are sites of cellular energy production but may also influence life and death decisions by initiating or inhibiting cell death. Mitochondrial depolarization and the subsequent release of pro-apoptotic factors have been suggested to be required for the activation of a cell death program in some forms of neuronal apoptosis. We induced apoptosis in cultured rat hippocampal neurons by ...

Mitochondrial membrane potential (mtMP) is critical for maintaining the physiological function of the respiratory chain to generate ATP. The present study characterized the inter-relationship between mtMP, using safranin and tetramethyl rhodamine methyl ester (TMRM), and mitochondrial respiratory activity and established a protocol for functional analysis of mitochondrial bioenergetics in a mul...

Under aerobic conditions, glucose consumption by rat reticulocytes was relatively low. When cellular respiratory activity was blocked by antimycin A, both glucose uptake and lactate formation were greatly increased. Pasteur control (the ratio of the rate of glycolysis in the respiratoryinhibited state to that in the uninhibited aerobic state) was very high in these cells and varied from 9 to 12...

The effects of bepridil, a potent antiarrhythmic drug, on the activity of ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channels and Na(+)-activated K(+) (K(Na)) channels were examined in isolated patches from guinea pig ventricular myocytes. In inside-out membrane patches, K(ATP) channel currents were recorded with 140 mM [K(+)](i) and 140 mM [K(+)](o) solutions, and K(Na) channel currents were recorded by incr...