Effects of extraction of ubiquinone on succinate-ferricyanide reductase activity

The effects of extraction and reincorporation of ubiquinone on succinate dehydrogenase of mitochondrial membranes have been studied. The succinate dehydrogenase activity, measured with ferricyanide as electron acceptor, was diminished by approximatively 75% upon the extraction of ubiquinone and was restored when ubiquinone was reincorporated into the membranes. A study in a model system represented by ubiquinols incorporated in liposomes shows that the initial rates of ubiquinol oxidation by external ferricyanide are almost two order of magnitude lower than the rates of succinate-ferricyanide reductase in mitochondria. It is therefore concluded that the compound feeding electrons to ferricyanide in damaged mitochondria is either ubiquinone in a bound form or a compound between UQ and the antimycin block.