ABSTRACT
Whole thickness burn (20% TBSA) was produced in adult rats of Wistar strain.The animals were divided into two groups: In the first group,liver mi-tochondrial respirarorv function was determined polarographically on the 9th day postburn (PB).In the second group,burn eschar was removed 9 days PB and extracted with physiological saline.Extract of normal rat skin was prepared in a similar way- Liver mitochondria were prepared from normal rats and incubated with serial dilutions of the extracts of eschar and normal skin respectively.The respiratory function was then determined.It was found that the respiratory control ratio (RCR) in the burn group was much depressed (63.7% as compared to normal).State 3 respiration rate also decreased (71.09% viz normal) but state 4 slightly increased.The differences were very significant (P