Mitochondrial assays respiration

The most convenient assay of mitochondrial respiration and ATP synthesis is to measure the changes in oxygen consumption of intact isolated organelles after several additions of ADP with an oxygen electrode (Chance and Williams, 1956 Estabrook, 1967). In exactly the same way, but using much lower amounts of organelles, the HbOg method could... 

Positive vital staining data are usually equated with life, implying a cellular capacity to grow and divide. Mammalian red blood cells and plant cells heavily irradiated with X-rays for use as nurse cultures are vital by such assays, yet they lack the ability to divide. Many vital stains, such as fluorescein diacetate and neutral red, measure the intactness of the cell membrane tetrazoliums measure mitochondrial reductive capacity. Respiration continues and membranes remain intact well after nuclear death. Some cells can be rescued after membrane damage and leakage. At best, lack of vital staining is indicative that cells are dying or are dead. Positive... 

Our first attempt was to synthesis some libraries, where we replaced the Z-double bonds with benzene rings, and the complex side chain with simpler groups. Typical examples were Compounds 8 and 9, (Figure 3). All the compounds were tested on a cascade consisting of the beef heart mitochondrial respiration assay and application to fimgi on leaf disks, with the most active compounds then being tested on fimgi on small plants. Unfortunately, none of the compounds showed activity in any of these tests. 

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