Fluoride Inhibition of Respiration and Fermentation in Cultured Cells of Acer pseudoplatanus

Low concentrations of sodium fluoride severely inhibit anaerobic CO 2 evolution in Acer pseadoplatanus L. cells but have relatively little effect on aerobic respiration. The insensitivity of respiratory O 2 uptake to fluoride is due in part to the fact that fluoride reduces the intracellular pyruvate concentration to only a relatively minor extent under aerobic conditions, although it prevents the several fold increase in endogenous private which is normally brought about by anoxia. The respiratory insensitivity is also ascribable to the existence of a respiratory component which is unaffected by the decrease in endogenous private resulting from fluoride treatment. The extremely severe respiratory inhibition brought about by fluoride plus dinitrophenol is not appreciably relieved by exogenous private, indicating that this inhibition is the result of interference with the aerobic oxidation process per se and is not solely a consequence of glycolytic inhibition.