An assessment of the calcium content of rat liver mitochondria in vivo.

The effect of systematically altering the isolation conditions on the total calcium content of mitochondria isolated from perfused rat liver was examined. We showed that, under most isolation conditions, significant redistributions of mitochondrial calcium occurred resulting in up to 5-fold changes of the total calcium content. Mitochondrial Ca2+ flux inhibitors such as Ruthenium Red and nupercaine were only partially effective in inhibiting such redistributions. We present evidence indicating that the total calcium content of rat liver mitochondria in situ may approximate 2 nmol X (mg of protein)-1.