Amino acid composition of human liver mitochondrial membranes in normal and pathological conditions.

The amino acid composition of proteins from liver mitochondrial membranes has been studied in patients with normal liver, with biliary diseases and fatty liver, with obstructive jaundice or liver cirrhosis. A characteristic pattern of the amino acid composition in patients with normal liver has been found. In the mitochondrial membranes of patients with fatty liver tryptophan and lysine were decreased while [aspartic acid plus asparagine] and [glutamic acid plus glutamine] were increased compared to their counterpart in the normal liver.

Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of magnesium in epileptic children.

In order to discriminate between conflicting reports in the literature, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid magnesium levels from epileptic children were compared with those of control children. To exclude the possibility of methodological artifacts, two methods for Mg determination were used: atomic absorption spectrophotometry and a colorimetric procedure. By both methods a significantly decreased concentration of Mg in plasma was found in epileptics.

Comparison of human and rat liver microsomes by spin label and biochemical analyses.

Detailed lipid analyses of human and rat liver microsomes revealed interesting differences. It was found that human liver microsomes contain twice as much lipid as those from the rat. This increased lipid content is not associated with an increase in content of a particular lipid class; human liver microsomes contain higher amounts of each of the lipid classes.

Fractionation of human liver mitochondria: enzymic and morphological characterization of the inner and outer membranes as compared to rat liver mitochondria.

The fractionation of human liver mitochondria into inner membrane, outer membrane and matrix material is reported. Compared with rat, human liver mitochondria are more fragile. Fractionation can be achieved in only 2 steps, a digitonin treatment for removal of the outer membrane and centrifugation of the inner membrane plus matrix particles through a linear sucrose gradient resulting in purified inner membranes and matrix.