Freeze-fracture study of heart mitochondria in the condensed or orthodox state.
Rat heart mitochondria were isolated and forced in a well-defined metabolic state. After freeze-fracturing, the intramembrane particle dimension and density on both fracture faces of the inner mitochondrial membrane were measured. No significant differences could be calculated between the diameter of the membrane particles in the five different states. However, the particle density on the fracture faces of the inner mitochondrial membrane in the condensed configuration is significantly smaller than in the orthodox configuration on the 99.5% level of confidence. These results are compared with the literature, where conflicting data have been published about these particle densities.
University of Antwerp (UIA), Department of Medicine, Antwerp-Wilrijk, Belgium.
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RC
Hertsens
W A
WA
Jacob
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D007425:Intracellular Membranes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008929:Mitochondria, Heart / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains