Studies on succinate oxidation: I. The use of intact tissue sections

Abstract

It is suggested that undenatured tissue sections, which remain intact during the course of the investigation, should have a significant part to play in metabolic biochemistry. The particular advantage of such a multiphase system is that the mitochondrion is still embedded in its natural environment. It has therefore been critical to show that such sections can give at least as much information as can be obtained by more conventional biochemical techniques with no loss of precision. Consequently the physical characteristics of the oxidation of succinate by these sections have been studied quantitatively and competitive inhibition by malonate has been proved. Moreover, using these techniques it is possible to by-pass the hydrogen-transport chain in the mitochondrion and to compare the oxidation of succinate under these conditions with what pertains when the hydrogen-transport chain is involved. The results obtained support the concept of a factor, probably in the hydrogen-transport system, acting as a rate limiting step in the overall oxidation of succinate.