In rat liver mitochondria all nucleoside diphosphate kinase of the outer compartment is associated with the outer surface of the outer membrane (Lipskaya, T. Yu., and Plakida, K. N. (2003) Biochemistry (Moscow), 68, 1136-1144). In the present study, three systems operating as ADP donors for oxidative phosphorylation have been investigated. The outer membrane bound nucleoside diphosphate kinase was the first system tested. Two others employed yeast hexokinase and yeast nucleoside diphosphate kinase. The two enzymes exhibited the same activity but could not bind to mitochondrial membranes. In all three systems, muscle creatine phosphokinase was the external agent competing with the oxidative phosphorylation system for ADP. Determination of mitochondrial respiration rate in the presence of increasing quantities of creatine phosphokinase revealed that at large excess of creatine phosphokinase activity over other kinase activities (of the three systems tested) and oxidative phosphorylation the creatine phosphokinase reaction reached a quasi-equilibrium state. Under these conditions equilibrium concentrations of all creatine phosphokinase substrates were determined and K(eq)app of this reaction was calculated for the system with yeast hexokinase. In samples containing active mitochondrial nucleoside diphosphate kinase the concentrations of ATP, creatine, and phosphocreatine were determined and the quasi-equilibrium concentration of ADP was calculated using the K(eq)app value. At balance of quasi-equilibrium concentrations of ADP and ATP/ADP ratio the mitochondrial respiration rate in the system containing nucleoside diphosphate kinase was 21% of the respiration rate assayed in the absence of creatine phosphokinase; in the system containing yeast hexokinase this parameter was only 7% of the respiration rate assayed in the absence of creatine phosphokinase. Substitution of mitochondrial nucleoside diphosphate kinase with yeast nucleoside diphosphate kinase abolished this difference. It is concluded that oxidative phosphorylation is accompanied by appearance of functional coupling between mitochondrial nucleoside diphosphate kinase and the oxidative phosphorylation system. Possible mechanisms of this coupling are discussed.