Changes in adult rat liver mitochondrial populations at different energy states analyzed by flow cytometry.

The present work studies the changes in green fluorescence intensity after Rh-123 staining of the low (LFP) and the high fluorescence populations (HFP) in isolated mitochondria from rat liver. The results show that the HFP represents a mitochondrial compartment less sensitive to changes in energy states. In addition, it is concluded that the use of Rh-123 to monitor changes in mitochondrial membrane potential should be undertaken with caution because, under certain circumstances, there is no correlation between the Rh-123 intensity of fluorescence due to its uptake by mitochondria and previously reported changes in the mitochondrial membrane potential.