Results of previous studies suggested a role of mitochondria in intracellular and cell-cell lactate shuttles. Therefore, by using a rat-derived L6 skeletal muscle cell line and confocal laser-scanning microscopy (CLSM), we examined the cellular locations of mitochondria, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), the lactate-pyruvate transporter MCT1, and CD147, a purported chaperone protein for MCT1. CLSM showed that LDH, MCT1, and CD147 are colocalized with the mitochondrial reticulum. Western blots showed that cytochrome oxidase (COX), NADH dehydrogenase, LDH, MCT1, and CD147 are abundant in mitochondrial fractions of L6 cells. Interactions among COX, MCT1, and CD147 in mitochondria were confirmed by immunoblotting after immunoprecipitation. These findings support the presence of a mitochondrial lactate oxidation complex associated with the COX end of the electron transport chain that might explain the oxidative catabolism of lactate and, hence, mechanism of the intracellular lactate shuttle. lactate transport; cell culture; confocal laser-scanning microscopy; immunocytochemistry; immunoprecipitation ONCE THOUGHT TO BE FORMED as the result of a lack of oxygen, lactate is now known to be formed continuously in the presence of oxygen (6). On the basis of isotope tracer, arterial-venous difference mass balance, and biopsy studies (2, 8) we now know that working skeletal muscle is not only the major site of lactate production but also the major site of its removal, mainly via oxidation. Lactate shuttling between sites of formation and disposal represents a carbon source for oxidation and gluconeogenesis and a vehicle for cell-cell signaling via redox changes (6). The carboxylic acids lactate and pyruvate are exchanged across lipid bilayer membranes by facilitated proton-linked transport (34, 35, 37) involving a family of monocarboxylate transport (MCT) proteins (15). Of the now recognized superfamily of solute transporters (18), the first four isoforms are lactate-pyruvate transporters. The first isoform discovered (MCT1) (15) is thought to facilitate cellular lactate uptake and oxidation (2,6,12) and is abundant in sarcolemmal and mitochondrial membranes of striated muscle and other cells, including neurons (7,10,28,29). In contrast, the MCT2 isoform, a high-affinity pyruvate transporter (5,14,27), is found predominantly in peroxisomes and is highly expressed in liver (29). In adult mammalian muscle, MCT2 appears in sarcolemmal and subsarcolemmal domains of oxidative muscle fibers, but MCT2 is not abundant compared with MCT1 (20). MCT3 appears to be specialized for function in the basal lateral membrane of retinal epithelium (40). MCT4, the other isoform expressed in muscle, is associated with sarcolemmal membranes of fast-twitch fibers (20). As part of the cell-cell lactate shuttle, sarcolemmal MCTs are thought to facilitate tissue and cellular lactate exchange and use.With the accumulating mass of physiological (2, 8) and other data showing tissue lactate exchange and wide diversity of tissue MCT expression (6, 19), there a...