Decreased Pasteur effect in platelets of aged individuals

We have investigated the mitochondrial energy state in human platelets of y oung (19-30 years old) and aged individuals (65-87 years old) exploiting th e Pasteur effect, i.e. stimulation of lactate production by incubation of t he purified platelets with the mitochondrial respiratory chain inhibitor, a ntimycin A. This assay allows the determination of mitochondrial function w ith respect to glycolysis, and the ratio of mitochondrial adenosine triphos phate (ATP) to glycolytic ATP. A significant increase of basal, non-stimula ted lactate production and decrease of the stimulation by antimycin A were observed in the older individuals, suggesting that the impairment of oxidat ive phosphorylation detectable in post-mitotic tissues of aged individuals can be observed also in easily collectable blood cells. (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.