Measurement of proton leak in isolated mitochondria

Abstract

Oxidative phosphorylation is an important energy-conserving mechanism coupling mitochondrial electron transfer to ATP synthesis. Coupling between respiration and phosphorylation is not fully efficient due to proton leaks. In this chapter, we present a method to measure proton leak activity in isolated mitochondria. The relative strength of a modular kinetic approach to probe oxidative phosphorylation is emphasized.