Effect of chlorpromazine on transmigration of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase in rat liver.

Cholestatic liver injury was experimentally induced in rats by administration of chlorpromazine (CPZ). The peak activity of mitochondrial aspartate aminotransferase (AST) released in serum was found to precede the peak of total AST activity. The liver mitochondria obtained from rats treated with CPZ was fractionated into two subfractions: one containing the intermembrane space, and the other containing the matrix and the membranes. As a results, the relative activity of AST in the intermembrane space was significantly increased at 12 h after CPZ administration. This result suggests that mitochondrial AST, which is dominantly located in the mitochondrial matrix, transmigrated to the intermembrane space via the inner membrane under the effect of CPZ administration.