Some cation-binding properties of cartilage

The possible relation between the uncoupling action of salicylate on oxidative-phosphorylation reactions and other effects of the substance on carbohydrate metabolism in animals has already been discussed by Smith & Jeffrey (1956). Some further examples have been reported. Manchester, Randle & Smith (1958) found that salicylate in- creased the glucose uptake of rat diaphragm incu- bated in a bicarbonate medium. This observation is explicable (Randle & Smith, 1958) on the basis that the entry of glucose into the muscle cells is normally restrained by a process dependent on a substance generated during oxidative phosphorylation and that this restraint is diminished by the uncoupling action of salicylate. The incorporation of 14C into the liver glycogen of intact rats after the injection of [2-14C]acetate is inhibited by salicylate (Smith, 1958). This finding is consistent with the view that salicylate impairs carbohydrate synthesis by inter- fering with oxidative-phosphorylation processes and hence the production of high-energy-phos- phate-bond compounds which are necessary at various steps in the major pathway by which acetate carbons are incorporated into liver glycogen. SUMMARY 1. The effects of salicylate on oxidative-phos- phorylation reactions in mitochondria prepared from rat liver have been studied.