Table 1.

Age-Associated Changes in Mitochondrial Low Molecular Weight Antioxidants

	Young		Old
	IFM	SSM	IFM	SSM
Ascorbate (nmol/mg protein)	1.22 ± 0.13*	1.47 ± 0.20	034 ± 0.07*†	0.97 ± 0.30†
GSH (nmol/mg protein)	3.81 ± 0.54*	3.75 ± 0.26	2.32 ± 0.29*†	3.58 ± 0.47†
GSSG (nmol/mg protein)	0.37 ± 0.08*	0.17 ± 0.09	0.54 ± 0.1*†	0.12 ± 0.08†
Total GSH (nmol/mg protein)	4.69 ± 0.57	4.11 ± 0.34	3.38 ± 0.2	3.82 ± 0.52
% GSH Oxidized	16.3 ± 2.9*†	8.2 ± 3.6†	32.18 ± 6.88*†	6.2 ± 1.15†

Values are expressed as mean ± SEM. Ascorbate and GSH levels in the freshly isolated IFM and SSM from young and old rats were measured as described in Materials and Methods. The results show a significant decline in the ascorbate and reduced GSH levels. In contrast to ascorbate, total GSH levels did not change with age or type of mitochondria. The results are expressed as mean ± SEM.

^*denotes significant (p < .05) difference between identical mitochondrial preparations from young and old rats while

^†denotes differences between IFM and SSM within the same age group.