Abstrakt: |
Vesicles of inner mitochondrial membrane, mitoplasts, from rat brown adipose tissue were prepared by osmotic swelling and studied using the patch-clamp technique. Current events of a 107.8 +/- 8.7 pS (n = 16, 21 degrees C) channel were recorded in the mitoplast-attached mode. This channel was selective for anions and its kinetics resembled those of channels previously found in liver and heart mitochondria of mouse and ox. In whole-mitoplast mode each of five purine nucleotides (20 microM) blocked the channel. This is the first demonstration of pharmacological blockade of this type of channel. Although a similar anion channel in mouse and ox mitochondria was suggested to be the uncoupling protein (UCP) associated with nonshivering thermogenesis, we present several arguments against this possibility. Thus we describe a high-conductance, purine-nucleotide-binding, anion selective mitochondrial channel, that is not the UCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |