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The activities of phosphorylase, hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, lactate dehydrogenase and the glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenases in muscles from vertebrates and invertebrates.

ABSTRACT: 1. The maximum activities of hexokinase, phosphorylase and phosphofructokinase have been measured in extracts from a variety of muscles and they have been used to estimate the maximum rates of operation of glycolysis in muscle. These estimated rates of glycolysis are compared with those calculated for the intact muscle from such information as oxygen uptake, glycogen degradation and lactate formation. Reasonable agreement between these determinations is observed, and this suggests that such enzyme activity measurements may provide a useful method for comparative investigations into quantitative aspects of maximum glycolytic flux in muscle. 2. The enzyme activities from insect flight muscle confirm and extend much of the earlier work and indicate the type of fuel that can support insect flight. The maximum activity of hexokinase in some insect flight muscles is about tenfold higher than that in vertebrate muscles. The activity of phosphorylase is greater, in general, in vertebrate muscle (particularly white muscle) than in insect flight muscle. This is probably related to the role of glycogen breakdown in vertebrate muscle (particularly white muscle) for the provision of ATP from anaerobic glycolysis and not from complete oxidation of the glucose residues. The activity of hexokinase was found to be higher in red than in white vertebrate muscle, thus confirming and extending earlier reports. 3. The maximum activity of the mitochondrial glycerophosphate dehydrogenase was always much lower than that of the cytoplasmic enzyme, indicating that the former enzyme is rate-limiting for the glycerol 3-phosphate cycle. From the maximum activity of the mitochondrial enzyme it can be calculated that the operation of this cycle would account for the reoxidation of all the glycolytically produced NADH in insect flight muscle but it could account for only a small amount in vertebrate muscle. Other mechanisms for this NADH reoxidation in vertebrate muscle are discussed briefly.

SUBMITTER: Crabtree B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1178350 | biostudies-other | 1972 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:1. Glycerol kinase (EC 2.7.1.30) activity was measured in crude extracts of skeletal muscles by a radiochemical method. The properties of the enzyme from a number of different muscles are very similar to those of the enzyme from rat liver. Glycerol kinase from locust flight muscle was inhibited competitively by l-3-glycerophosphate with a K(i) of 4.0x10(-4)m. 2. The activity of glycerol kinase was measured in a variety of muscles from vertebrates and invertebrates in an attempt to explain the large variation in the activity of this enzyme in different muscles. 3. In vertebrates glycerol kinase activities were generally higher in red muscle than in white muscle; the highest activities (approx. 0.2mumole/min./g. fresh wt.) were found in the red breast muscle of some birds (e.g. pigeon, duck, blue tit) whereas the activities in the white breast muscle of the pheasant and domestic fowl were very low (approx. 0.02mumole/min./g.). 4. On the basis of glycerol kinase activities, muscles from insects can be classified into three groups: muscles that have a low enzyme activity, i.e. <0.3mumole/min./g. (leg muscles of all insects studied and the flight muscles of cockroaches and the tsetse fly); muscles that have an intermediate enzyme activity, i.e. 0.3-1.5mumoles/min./g. (e.g. locusts, cockchafers, moths, water-bugs); and muscles that have a high enzyme activity, i.e. >1.5mumoles/min./g. (e.g. bees, wasps, some blowflies). 5. The function of glycerol kinase in vertebrate and insect muscles that possess a low or intermediate activity is considered to be the removal of glycerol that is produced from lipolysis of triglyceride or diglyceride by the muscle. Therefore in these muscles the activity of glycerol kinase is related to the metabolism of fat, which is used to support sustained muscular activity. A possible regulatory role of glycerol kinase in the initiation of triglyceride or diglyceride lipolysis is discussed. 6. The function of glycerol kinase in the insect muscles that possess a high activity of the enzyme is considered to be related to the high rates of glycolysis that these muscles can perform. The oxidation of extramitochondrial NADH, and therefore the maintenance of glycolysis, is dependent on the functioning of the glycerophosphate cycle; if at any stage of flight (e.g. at the start) the rate of mitochondrial oxidation of l-3-glycerophosphate was less than the activity of the extramitochondrial glycerophosphate dehydrogenase, this compound would accumulate, inhibit the latter enzyme and inhibit glycolysis. It is suggested that such excessive accumulation of l-3-glycerophosphate is prevented by hydrolysis of this compound to glycerol; the latter would have to be removed from the muscle when the accumulation of l-3-glycerophosphate had stopped, and this would explain the presence of glycerol kinase in these muscles and its inhibition by l-3-glycerophosphate.

Project description:Comparison of the activities of hexokinase, phosphorylase and phosphofructokinase in muscles from marine invertebrates indicates that they can be divided into three groups. First, the activities of the three enzymes are low in coelenterate muscles, catch muscles of molluscs and muscles of echinoderms; this indicates a low rate of carbohydrate (and energy) utilization by these muscles. Secondly, high activities of phosphorylase and phosphofructokinase relative to those of hexokinase are found in, for example, lobster abdominal and scallop snap muscles; this indicates that these muscles depend largely on anaerobic degradation of glycogen for energy production. Thirdly, high activities of hexokinase are found in the radular muscles of prosobranch molluscs and the fin muscles of squids; this indicates a high capacity for glucose utilization, which is consistent with the high activities of enzymes of the tricarboxylic acid cycle in these muscles [Alp, Newsholme & Zammit (1976) Biochem. J. 154, 689-700]. 2. The activities of lactate dehydrogenase, octopine dehydrogenase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, cytosolic and mitochondrial glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase and glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase were measured in order to provide a qualitative indication of the importance of different processes for oxidation of glycolytically formed NADH. The muscles are divided into four groups: those that have a high activity of lactate dehydrogenase relative to the activities of phosphofructokinase (e.g. crustacean muscles); those that have high activities of octopine dehydrogenase but low activities of lactate dehydrogenase (e.g. scallop snap muscle); those that have moderate activities of both lactate dehydrogenase and octopine dehydrogenase (radular muscles of prosobranchs), and those that have low activities of both lactate dehydrogenase and octopine dehydrogenase, but which possess activities of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (oyster adductor muscles). It is suggested that, under anaerobic conditions, muscles of marine invertebrates form lactate and/or octopine or succinate (or similar end product) according to the activities of the enzymes present in the muscles (see above). The muscles investigated possess low activities of cytosolic glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase, which indicates that glycerol phosphate formation is quantitatively unimportant under anaerobic conditions, and low activities of mitochondrial glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase, which indicates that the glycerol phosphate cycle is unimportant in the re-oxidation of glycolytically produced NADH in these muscles under aerobic conditions. Conversely, high activities of glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase are present in some muscles, which indicates that the malate-aspartate cycle may be important in oxidation of glycolytically produced NADH under aerobic conditions. 3. High activities of nucleoside diphosphate kinase were found in muscles that function for prolonged periods under anaerobic conditions (e.g...

Project description:1. Comparison of the maximum activities of pyruvate kinase with those of phosphofructokinase in a large number of muscles from invertebrates and vertebrates indicates that, in general, in any individual muscle, the activity of pyruvate kinase is only severalfold higher than that of phosphofructokinase. This is consistent with the suggestion, based on mass-action ratio data, that the pyruvate kinase reaction is non-equilibrium in muscle. However, the range of activities of pyruvate kinase in these muscles is considerably larger than that of phosphofructokinase. This difference almost disappears if the enzyme activities from muscles that are known to possess an anaerobic ;succinate pathway' are excluded. It is suggested that, in these muscles, phosphofructokinase provides glycolytic residues for both pyruvate kinase (i.e. glycolysis) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (i.e. the succinate pathway). This is supported by a negative correlation between the activity ratio, pyruvate kinase/phosphofructokinase, and the activities of nucleoside diphosphokinase in these muscles, since high activities of nucleoside diphosphokinase are considered to indicate the presence of the succinate pathway. 2. The effect of fructose bisphosphate on the activities of pyruvate kinase from many different muscles was studied. The stimulatory effect of fructose bisphosphate appears to be lost whenever an efficient system for supply of oxygen to the muscles is developed (e.g. insects, squids, birds and mammals). This suggests that activation of pyruvate kinase is important in the co-ordinated regulation of glycolysis in anaerobic or hypoxic conditions, when the change in glycolytic flux during the transition from rest to activity needs to be large in order to provide sufficient energy for the contractile activity. However, lack of this effect in the anaerobic muscles of the birds and mammals suggests that another metabolic control may exist for avian and mammalian pyruvate kinase in these muscles.

Dataset Information

The activities of phosphorylase, hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, lactate dehydrogenase and the glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenases in muscles from vertebrates and invertebrates.

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