Rates of oxidation by isolated rat heart (A) or liver (B) mitochondria at 30°C were measured using an oxygen electrode as described under Methods. Data are expressed as the percentage of rates in the absence of LND to allow better comparison between the different substrates and the lines drawn were fitted by FigSys using a Bezier Spline function. For heart mitochondria, data are presented for a single representative experiment with absolute rates of pyruvate + malate, glutamate + malate, 2-oxoglutarate + malate and succinate + rotenone oxidation in the absence of LND of 84, 83, 67 and 212 nmol O2 · min−1 per mg protein , respectively. For liver mitochondria (B), mean data (± S.E.M.) are presented for 3 separate mitochondrial preparations. The absolute rates of glutamate + malate and succinate (+ rotenone) oxidation in the absence of LND were 67.9 ± 3.0 and 109 ± 7.8 nmol O2 · min−1 per mg protein, respectively.