The Effect of Parathyroid Hormone in Vivo on the Accumulation of Calcium and Phosphate by Kidney and on Kidney Mitochondrial Function

The inhibition of respiratory control, respiration, and phosphorylation found in rabbit kidney cortex mitochondria following administration in vivo of parathyroid hormone has been correlated with a marked increase of calcium and phosphate in the whole kidney and kidney mitochondria. The major part of the calcium found in the isolated mitochondria was of extramitochondrial origin and was accumulated by this fraction during the homogenization of the tissue. A small amount of Ca++, however, appeared to accumulate in the mitochondria in vivo as a result of the action of parathyroid hormone. Usually there was an impaired uptake and retention of Ca++ by the mitochondria in vitro, but in some experiments the mitochondria exhibited a pattern of normal Ca++ transport, respiration, and respiratory control.