Crucial role of sulfhydryl groups in the mitochondrial inner membrane structure.

The mitochondrial inner membrane lost its selectivity for the transport of solutes after reaction of hydrophobic sulfhydryl groups with alkylating agents (maleimide derivatives). The nature of the thiol reagent-induced membrane perturbations was investigated. Modifications of the interactions between membrane components after treatment with thiol reagents were assessed by measuring the binding parameters of 1-anilinonaphtalene-8-sulfonate. An enhancement (about 50%) of the fluorescence intensity, a weak increase of the number of binding sites, and a decrease of the apparent dissociation constant were observed. However, no significant modification of the net surface charge was detected. The osmotic behavior of mitochondria in hypotonic solutions of sucrose was altered after thiol modification. The outer membrane did not seem to influence the matricial volume expansion when thiols were alkylated. After swelling in an isotonic solution of permeant ions, N-butylmaleimide-treated mitochondrial lost one-half of their malate dehydrogenase content, whereas fumarase and glutamate dehydrogenase did not leave the matrix space. Addition of polyethylene glycol of molecular weight below 6000 to swollen mitochondria induced a rapid but transient shrinkage. In swollen mitochondria, the above results indicate a possible holes formation in the membrane structure. The size of these holes was estimated to be about 3 nm. This process which required the presence of the outer membrane, was favored by increasing the temperature and was antagonized by specific effectors of the adenine nucleotide translocator.