Ascorbate induced lysis of inner mitochondrial membranes. Isolation and electron microscopic studies of three subfractions

Abstract

Ascorbate treatment of isolated inner membranes from rat liver mitochondria produces a similar effect to that already described for whole mitochondria. A de­ crease of the optical density takes place similar to that observed in large, ampli­tude swelling. These optical density changes seem to be associated with lysis of the inner mitochondrial membrane structure, which in turn depends on alteratations of its phospholipid composition, consisting mainly of a decrease in phosphatidyl cho­line and phosphatidyl ethanolamine.