Turnover of mitochondrial components of normal and essential fatty acid-deficient rats.

1. Essential fatty acid (EFA)-deficient and control rats were injected intraperitoneally with [(32)P]phosphate, l-[(35)S]methionine and [2-(14)C]acetate. The animals were killed at various time-intervals after injection and their liver mitochondria fractionated into soluble protein, insoluble protein, and lipid. 2. The (35)S was assayed in the protein fractions and (32)P and (14)C were assayed in the lipid fraction. Curves of log (specific activity) plotted against time were prepared for the different fractions. 3. There was no significant difference between the insoluble protein results for control and EFA-deficient animals, both sets of results indicating the presence of a single component of half-life 9 days. 4. There was no significant difference between the soluble protein results for the two sets of animals and both sets of results indicated the presence of at least two components. 5. The [(32)P]-phospholipid results indicate that in the control animals the liver mitochondrial phospholipids contain components of half-life 1.6 and 10 days whereas the mitochondrial phospholipids of the EFA-deficient animals contain components of half-life 3 and 29 days. 6. The specific activity of mitochondrial [(14)C]phospholipid initially fell rapidly in both groups of animals, but after 17 days there was no further significant decrease. A fast component with maximum half-life 2-4 days was clearly demonstrated for both groups of animals. Whether or not these results also indicate the presence of a very long-lived mitochondrial phospholipid is discussed.