STUDIES OF FATTY ACID OXIDATION: 5. THE EFFECT OF DECANOIC ACID ON OXIDATIVE PHOSPHORYLATION

Abstract

The effects of potassium decanoate on the phosphorylation associated with the oxidation of pyruvate by rat-kidney and rat-brain mitochondria have been investigated. The suggestion that these two processes may be uncoupled from each other in the presence of decanoate has been confirmed. Further, it has been shown that the decanoate-insensitive oxidation of pyruvate by rat-brain mitochondria, occurring in the absence of such stimulating agents as fumarate, is not associated with ATP synthesis. The fumarate-stimulated oxidation of pyruvate by rat-brain mitochondria, which is inhibited by decanoate, is associated with a phosphorylation process which is uncoupled by decanoate. When pyruvate oxidation by rat-kidney or by rat-brain mitochondria is uncoupled from phosphorylation, the extent of uncoupling is proportional to the amount of decanoate added.