Activation of liver succinate dehydrogenase in rats exposed to hypobaric conditions

1. On brief exposure of rats to hypobaric conditions, the activity of hepatic mitochondrial succinate dehydrogenase was raised from the basal state to a ;partially activated state'. This was further raised to ;fully activated state' by preincubation of mitochondria with succinate, as was the activity in mitochondria from normal rats. 2. On washing mitochondria with the homogenizing sucrose medium the activity excess obtained on preincubation with succinate was lost in mitochondria from both normal and treated rats. 3. The enzyme in the ;partially activated state' from animals exposed to hypobaric conditions was stable to the washing procedure but was labilized and reverted to a low basal state of activity on freezing and thawing of the isolated mitochondria. 4. The results suggest that activation of succinate dehydrogenase under hypobaric conditions represents a conformational change leading to a stable, partially activated, form of the enzyme system: this is the first evidence of physiological modulation of this rate-limiting step in the control of the rate of oxidation of succinate.