Effect of salicylate on oxidative phosphorylation and respiration of mitochondrial fragments.

1. The effects of salicylate on oxidative phosphorylation and respiration were investigated in liver and brain mitochondria, and in sonically prepared mitochondrial fragments. 2. Salicylate was shown to uncouple oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondrial fragments, as well as in intact mitochondria. The effects of salicylate on mitochondria and oxidative phosphorylation resemble those produced by dinitrophenol. 3. The quantitative effects of salicylate on respiration in vitro were shown to be complex. The final effect may be the resultant of an interaction of a multiplicity of factors, such as the tissue, the substrate, mitochondrial and extramitochondrial influences, and the direct effect on the respiratory chain itself.