Probing Mitochondria in Living Cells with Rhodamine 123
This extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Excerpt
Since the initial description of granules, which undoubtedly were mitochondria, by Kolliker in 1850 and since the subsequent studies of mitochondria by Altmann (1890), much work has been carried out in order to elucidate both the structure and function of this complex organelle. Extensive biochemical studies of the mitochondria have proved them to be the powerhouses of the aerobic cells, providing the ATP necessary for cell survival and growth (Lehninger 1964; Racker 1976).
Although a vast amount of work has been done with isolated mitochondria and mitochondria in fixed cells, much less attention has been paid to the mitochondrion in its native context: the live cell. In one of the earliest detailed studies of live mitochondria (Lewis and Lewis 1914), the Lewises presented an intriguing description of mitochondrial plasticity, motility, and morphological heterogeneity in cultured chick embryo cells. This report of the mitochondrion as an extremely dynamic organelle provoked further...
