Antimycin A, an antibiotic obtained from an undetermined species of strepto-myces, was isolated, crystallized, and described by Dunshee, Leben, Keitt, & Strong (1949), and its biological action has been studied by many workers since then. Ahmad, Schneider, & Strong (1950) demonstrated its effects on the growth and metabolism of yeast, on enzyme activities in the succinoxidase system, and on rats given the drug orally. Potter & Reif (1952) confirmed the inhibitory effect of antimycin A on the succinoxidase system in liver, suggested the presence of an ‘antimycin A-blocked factor’, identical, probably, with the ‘Slater factor’ and showed that, in certain tissues, there is an antimycin A-insensitive pathway for DPN oxidation. The same workers, Reif & Potter (1954), used the drug to characterize the pathways of DPN oxidation in different tissues. Green, Mii, & Kahout (1955) and Thorn (1956) argue from their experiments that the BAL-sensitive (Slater) factor and the antimycin A-sensitive factor are not identical.

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