[Participation of free radicals in ATP synthesis]

To study ESR absorption of mitochondrial ATPase a special flow system was developed allowing to maintain surviving conditions for mitochondria. It has been shown that ESR free radical signal of mitochondria observed at room temperature (g-factor 2.00 and halfwidth of about 15 Gs) depends on their metabolic state. An increase of free radical content during mitochondrial energization can be associated with operation of ATPsynthetase. It is supposed that free radicals take part in the reaction of ADP phosphorylation and that a molecule of ADP itself bound in the active centre of ATPase can become a free radical to facilitate the process of inorganic phosphate incorporation.