Stimulation of mitochondrial adenosine diphosphate uptake by thyroid hormones

Thyroid hormone administered in vivo increased carrier-mediated (atractyloside-sensitive) ADP uptake by rat liver mitochondria. 3 Days after a single large dose of triiodothyronine (20 mug/100 g of body weight), mitochondrial uptake of ADP measured at 6 degrees was 2.35 +/- 0.17 nmol/min per mg of protein, compared with an uptake of 1.81 +/- 0.19 nmol/min per mg of protein in mitochondria from untreated rats (P < 0.025). Cyanide (1.33 mM) had no effect on ADP uptake by mitochondria from either untreated or triiodothyronine-treated animals. Uptake of ADP by mitochondria from thyroidectomized rats treated with thyroxine for 7 days was 2.89 +/- 0.40 nmol/min per mg in mitochondria from thyrotoxic rats (20 mug of thyroxine per 100 g per day) and 1.98 +/- 0.22 nmol/min per mg in mitochondria from euthyroid rats (2 mug of thyroxine per 100 g per day) (P < 0.025). Mitochondria from both untreated and thyroid hormone-treated rats displayed a highly significant linear correlation between ADP uptake and ADP-dependent (i.e., state 3 minus state 4) oxygen consumption. There was, however, no difference in respiratory control ratios between mitochondria from euthyroid and thyrotoxic animals. Administration of dinitrophenol (2 mg/100 g) also stimulated carrier-mediated ADP uptake, but respiratory control of mitochondria from dinitrophenol-treated animals was virtually abolished. Triiodothyronine in vitro, at concentrations of 100 and 0.1 nM, appeared to inhibit rather than stimulate the uptake of mitochondrial ADP. The relationship between these observations and the clinical manifestations of thyrotoxicosis is discussed from the point of view of the possible effects of increased mitochondrial ADP transport on oxidative phosphorylation and adenosyl nucleotide metabolism.