Inverse effects of ethidium bromide on superoxide dismutase and lactate dehydrogenase of Artemia salina embryos.

Development of Artemia salina embryos in the presence of ethidium bromide, an inhibitor of mitochondrial transcription, results in a dose dependent increase in the specific activity of lactate dehydrogenase, and a concomitant decrease in the specific activity of a cyanide-resistant superoxide dismutase. The inhibition of mitochondrial function by ethidium bromide appears to exert opposite effects on the nuclear cistrons encoding lactate dehydrogenase and superoxide dismutase, and suggests that a common mitochondrial signal may exert diametric effects on nuclear cistrons whose products are characteristic of alternate states of respiration.