The effect of methylglyoxal on the oxygen consumption of Ehrlich-ascites-carcinoma (EAC)-cell mitochondria was tested by using different respiratory substrates, electron donors at different segments of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and site-specific inhibitors to identify the specific respiratory complex which might be involved in the inhibitory effect of methylglyoxal on the oxygen consu...

Increased conversion of glucose to lactic acid associated with decreased mitochondrial respiration is a unique feature of tumors first described by Otto Warburg in the 1920s. Recent evidence suggests that the Warburg effect is caused by oncogenes and is an underlying mechanism of malignant transformation. Using a novel approach to measure cellular metabolic rates in vitro, the bioenergetic basi...

BACKGROUND The vanilloids capsaicin and resiniferatoxin are natural products that contain a vanillyl moiety (4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzyl). Both vanilloids can induce apoptosis in certain cell types by a mechanism that has not been fully elucidated but may involve plasma membrane or mitochondrial targets. We investigated the role of mitochondrial respiration in vanilloid-induced apoptosis. METHO...

Bacteria are ubiquitously distributed throughout our planet, mainly in the form of adherent communities in which cells exhibit specific traits. The mechanisms underpinning the physiological shift in surface-attached bacteria are complex, multifactorial and still partially unclear. Here we address the question of the existence of early surface sensing through implementation of a functional respo...

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a gram-negative bacterium of clinical importance, forms more robust biofilm during anaerobic respiration, a mode of growth presumed to occur in abnormally thickened mucus layer lining the cystic fibrosis (CF) patient airway. However, molecular basis behind this anaerobiosis-triggered robust biofilm formation is not clearly defined yet. Here, we identified a morphological...

1. The effects of KCN and iron salts on oxygen consumption has been studied in the cell of Paramecium caudatum by manometric methods. 2. KCN solutions of strengths from M/200 to M/10,000 have been shown to produce no decrease in oxygen consumption, but have in most cases produced a very slight increase in the respiration rate. 3. The pH values were found to have little or no effect on these res...

On x-irradiation of the eggs and sperm of Arbacia punctulata there was inhibition of respiration with relatively large doses, whereas there was an increase with small doses. The dose required to produce an increase of respiration depended on the degree of sensitivity of the cell to the effect of ionizing radiation. Sperm cells were more sensitive; then came fertilized eggs; unfertilized eggs we...

1. Transport of the plant growth hormone into the Avena coleoptile as well as the action of the hormone on cell elongation in the coleoptile are shown to depend upon aerobic metabolism. 2. Crystalline auxine, in contrast with impure preparations, affects neither the magnitude nor the respiratory quotient of coleoptile respiration. 3. Increasing age of the coleoptile cell decreases its rate of e...

To determine effects of stem nitrogen concentration ([N]) on the seasonal course of respiration, rates of stem respiration of ten control and ten irrigated-fertilized (IL), 30-year-old Norway spruce trees (Picea abies (L.) Karst.), growing in northern Sweden, were measured on seven occasions from June 1993 to April 1994. To explore sources of seasonal variation and mechanisms of fertilization e...