QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF MITOCHONDRIA IN RAT LIVER

Abstract

The dry mass, wet mass, and volume of mitochondria of normal rat liver were determined, as well as nitrogen content and concentration. A scheme of multiple approaches to these quantities was devised, permitting comparison of values obtained by independent methods. The following basic values are considered highly accurate: Mean dry mass, 13. 6 x 10-14g; mean wet mass, 51. 8 x 10-14g; mean volume, 0. 43 [mu]3; nitrogen content, 1. 75 x 10-14g. The work emphasizes the fact that in mitochondria the quantities, mass, and volume occur in logarithmic-normal distributions.