Fig. 4. Kinetics of frog skeletal muscle mitochondrial proton leak during normoxia and in anoxia. During normoxia, the membrane potential is generated by the electron-transport chain; however, during anoxia, the electron-transport chain is inhibited, and the ATP synthase functions as an ATPase, pumping protons from the matrix to the cytosol to preserve a certain membrane potential. The normoxic and anoxic conditions are represented by filled and open circles, respectively. Values are means ± S.E.M.; N=6 for both normoxia and anoxia. ^*Resting proton leak rate and membrane potential. Significant difference from the resting proton leak rate during normoxia (P<0.05; Student's t-test). Significant difference from the resting membrane potential during normoxia (P<0.05; Student's t-test). From St-Pierre et al. (2000b) with permission.

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