Figure 5.

Accumulation of alkyltriphenylphosphonium cations within mitochondria in vivo. Mice were injected i.v. with 1 μmol IBTP or vehicle and 4 h later heart mitochondria and cytoplasm were prepared. Protein (25 μg) from control and IBTP-treated mitochondria and cytosolic fractions were separated by SDS/PAGE and then immunoblotted with antitriphenylphosphonium antiserum. The mitochondrial band at ≈45 kDa was a nonspecific binding artifact. These data are typical of three independent experiments. Analysis of mitochondrial and cytosolic marker enzymes during our mitochondrial preparations routinely shows negligible cross-contamination of the fractions.