Effect of Thyroidectomy and in Vivo Administration of Triiodothyronine on DNA Synthesis in Isolated Mitochondria

The experimental conditions were studied which allow hormonal levels to affect the incorporation of labelled deoxyribonucleosides triphosphates (dNTP's) into mitochondrial DNA by isolated liver mitochondria, obtained either from thyroidectomized young male rats (T) or from animals of the same age thyroidectomized and then treated with triiodothyronine (T + T3). It was demonstrated that: (a) extramitochondrial DNA, on which extramitochondrial DNA polymerase may act, was absent; (b) the permeability to dNTP's, the thymidine kinase activity, the energy supply, and the nuclease activities were unaffected by hormonal conditions; (c) the bacterial contaminations contribute for only 1% to incorporation. The characterization of incorporation product showed that: (a) such product was indeed DNA, as it was DNase-degradable for about 90%; (b) the labelled DNA was indeed mitochondrial DNA, as a 10 minutes preincubation with acriflavine or ethydium bromide (Eth. Br.) inhibited the synthesis by 90%.