Effects of ammonium chloride-induced acidosis on oxidative metabolism in liver mitochondria of chicks.

The present studies were undertaken to characterise oxidative metabolism with diverse substrates in hepatic mitochondria of acidotic chicks. Metabolic acidosis was experimentally induced by replacement of drinking water with ammonium chloride solution (15 g/l) for 5 d. State 3 oxidation rates in liver mitochondria were significantly reduced in acidotic chicks only for pyruvate and glutamate as substrates requiring complex I, III and IV of the electron transport chain, while they were not changed for either succinate-requiring complexes II, III and IV, ascorbate+TMPD-requiring complex IV, or alpha-ketoglutarate requiring complexes I, III and IV. It can be concluded that the impairment of oxidation rate was substrate-specific in liver mitochondria of acidotic animals and not associated with functional damage of the respiratory chain in mitochondria. Possible reasons for the reductions in oxidation rate with pyruvate and glutamate are discussed.