POSTNATAL-DEVELOPMENT OF THE COMPLEXES OF THE ELECTRON-TRANSPORT CHAIN IN SYNAPTIC MITOCHONDRIA FROM RAT-BRAIN

The postnatal development of the complexes of the electron transport chain in mitochondria isolated from rat brain synaptosomes was investigated. Synaptosomal brain mitochondria were isolated from rats aged 10-60 days, and the activities of mitochondrial complex I, complex II-III, complex IV and complex V were measured. There was a significant increase in the activity of complex V from day 10 to day 60 post partum, and in the activities of complex II-III from day 10 to day 15 and complex IV from day 10 to day 21, thereafter the activities of complexes I-III and IV did not change significantly. The activity of complex I did not change significantly during the period 10-60 days post partum. In synaptic mitochondria, complex V activity was higher than in non-synaptic mitochondria, whereas the activity of complex I was lower than in non-synaptic mitochondria. These data show that the complexes of the respiratory chain within synaptic mitochondria have activities different from those of non-synaptic mitochondria and may have major implications for the relative susceptibility of mitochondria in different brain cell types to neurotoxins such as MPP(+), hypoxic/ischaemic damage and oxidative stress.