Metabolic characteristics of the deltoid muscle in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. (1/109)

The purpose of this study was to analyse key enzyme activities of the deltoid muscle (DM) in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. The activities of one oxidative enzyme (citrate synthase (CS)), two glycolytic enzymes (lacatate dehydrogenase (LD); and phosphofructokinase (PFK)) and one enzyme related to the use of energy stores (creatine kinase (CK)) were determined in the DM of 10 patients with COPD and nine controls. Exercise capacity (cycloergometry) and the handgrip strength were also evaluated. Although exercise capacity was markedly reduced in COPD (57 +/- 20% predicted), their handgrip strength was relatively preserved (77 +/- 19% pred). The activity of LD was higher in the COPD patients (263.9 +/- 68.2 versus 184.4 +/- 46.5 mmol x min(-1) x g(-1), p<0.01), with a similar trend for CS (67.3 +/- 33.3 versus 46.0 +/- 17.4 mmol x min(-1) x g(-1), p = 0.07). Interestingly, the activity of the latter enzyme was significantly higher than controls if only severe COPD patients were considered (81.8 +/- 31.2 mmol x min(-1) x g(-1), p < 0.01). PFK and CK activities were similar for controls and COPD. Chronic obstructive patients show a preserved or even increased (severe disease) oxidative capacity in their deltoid muscle. This coexists with a greater capacity in the anaerobic part of the glycolysis. These findings are different to those previously observed in muscles of the lower limbs.  (+info)

Interrelations of ATP synthesis and proton handling in ischaemically exercising human forearm muscle studied by 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy. (2/109)

1. In ischaemic exercise ATP is supplied only by glycogenolysis and net splitting of phosphocreatine (PCr). Furthermore, 'proton balance' involves only glycolytic lactate/H+ generation and net H+ 'consumption' by PCr splitting. This work examines the interplay between these, metabolic regulation and the creatine kinase equilibrium. 2. Nine male subjects (age 25-45 years) performed finger flexion (7 % maximal voluntary contraction at 0.67 Hz) under cuff ischaemia. 31P magnetic resonance spectra were acquired from finger flexor muscle in a 4.7 T magnet using a 5 cm surface coil. 3. Initial PCr depletion rate estimates total ATP turnover rate; glycolytic ATP synthesis was obtained from this and changes in [PCr], and then used to obtain flux through 'distal' glycolysis (phosphofructokinase and beyond) to lactate; 'proximal' flux (through phosphorylase) was obtained from this and changes in [phosphomonoester]. Total H+ load (lactate load less H+ consumption) was used to estimate cytosolic buffer capacity (beta). 4. Glycolytic ATP synthesis increased from near zero while PCr splitting declined. Net H+ load was approximately linear with pH, suggesting beta = 20 mmol x l(-1) (pH unit)(-1) at rest, increasing as pH falls. 5. Relationships between glycolytic rate and changes in [PCr] (i.e. the time-integrated mismatch between ATP use and production), and thus also [P(i)] (substrate for phosphorylase), suggest that increase in glycolysis is due partly to 'open-loop' Ca2+-dependent conversion of phosphorylase b to a, and partly to the 'closed loop' increase in P(i) consequent on net PCr splitting. 6. The 'settings' of these mechanisms have a strong influence on changes in pH and metabolite concentrations.  (+info)

Creation of an allosteric phosphofructokinase starting with a nonallosteric enzyme. The case of dictyostelium discoideum phosphofructokinase. (3/109)

An allosteric phosphofructokinase (PFK) was created by sequence manipulation of the nonallosteric enzyme from the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum (DdPFK). Most amino acid residues proposed as important for catalytic and allosteric sites are conserved in DdPFK except for a few of them, and their reversion did not modify its kinetic behavior. However, deletions at the unique C-terminal extension of this PFK produced a markedly allosteric enzyme. Thus, a mutant lacking the last 26 C-terminal residues exhibited hysteresis in the time course, intense cooperativity (n(H) = 3.8), and a 200-fold decrease in the apparent affinity for fructose 6-phosphate (S(0.5) = 4500 microm), strong activation by fructose 2,6-bisphosphate (K(act) = 0.1 microm) and fructose 1,6-bisphosphate (K(act) = 40 microm), dependence on enzyme concentration, proton inhibition, and subunit association-dissociation in response to fructose 6-phosphate versus the nonhysteretic and hyperbolic wild-type enzyme (n(H) = 1.0; K(m) = 22 microm) that remained as a stable tetramer. Systematic deletions and point mutations at the C-tail region of DdPFK identified the last C-terminal residue, Leu(834), as critical to produce a nonallosteric enzyme. All allosteric mutants were practically insensitive to MgATP inhibition, suggesting that this effect does not involve the same allosteric transition as that responsible for fructose 6-phosphate cooperativity and fructose bisphosphate activation.  (+info)

Weight loss-induced rise in plasma pollutant is associated with reduced skeletal muscle oxidative capacity. (4/109)

In this study, we examined whether weight loss-induced changes in plasma organochlorine compounds (OC) were associated with those in skeletal muscle markers of glycolytic and oxidative metabolism. Vastus lateralis skeletal muscle enzyme activities and plasma OC (Aroclor 1260, polychlorinated biphenyl 153, p,p'-DDE, beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, and hexachlorobenzene) were measured before and after a weight loss program in 17 men and 20 women. Both sexes showed a similar reduction in body weight (approximately 11 kg) in response to treatment, although men lost significantly more fat mass than women (P < 0.05). Enzymatic markers of glycolysis, phosphofructokinase (PFK) activity, and oxidative metabolism, beta-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (HADH), citrate synthase (CS), and cytochrome c oxidase (COX) activities, remained unchanged after weight loss. A significant increase in plasma OC levels was observed in response to weight loss, an effect that was more pronounced in men. No relationship was observed between changes in OC and those in PFK activity in either sex [-0.31 < r < 0.12, not significant (NS)]. However, the greater the increase in plasma OC levels, the greater the reduction in oxidative enzyme (HADH, CS, COX) activities was in response to weight loss in men (-0.75 < r < -0.50, P < 0.05) but not in women (-0.33 < r < 0.33, NS). These results suggest that the weight loss-induced increase in plasma pollutant levels is likely to be associated with reduced skeletal muscle oxidative metabolism in men but not in women.  (+info)

Mitochondrial biogenesis during skeletal muscle regeneration. (5/109)

Myogenesis requires energy production for the execution of a number of regulatory and biosynthesis events. We hypothesized that mitochondrial biogenesis would be stimulated during skeletal muscle regeneration. Tibialis anterior muscles of male Sprague-Dawley rats were injected with 0.75% bupivacaine and removed at 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21, or 35 days after injection (n = 5-7/group). Two main periods emerged from the histochemical analyses of muscle sections and the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, desmin, and creatine phosphokinase: 1) activation/proliferation of satellite cells (days 3-14) and 2) differentiation into muscle fibers (days 5-35). The onset of muscle differentiation was accompanied by a marked stimulation of mitochondrial biogenesis, as indicated by a nearly fivefold increase in citrate synthase activity and state 3 rate of respiration between days 5 and 10. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1 (PGC-1) mRNA level and mitochondrial transcription factor A (mtTFA) protein level peaked on day 10 concurrently with the state 3 rate of respiration. Therefore, transcriptional activation by PGC-1 and mtTFA may be one of the mechanisms regulating mitochondrial biogenesis in regenerating skeletal muscle. Taken together, our results suggest that mitochondrial biogenesis may be an important regulatory event during muscle regeneration.  (+info)

Differing mechanisms of cold-induced changes in capillary supply in m. tibialis anterior of rats and hamsters. (6/109)

The physiological, metabolic and anatomical adaptations of skeletal muscle to chronic cold exposure were investigated in Wistar rats (Rattus norvegicus), a species that defends core temperature, and Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), which may adopt a lower set point under unfavourable conditions. Animals were exposed to a simulated onset of winter in an environmental chamber, progressively shortening photoperiod and reducing temperature from 12 h:12 h L:D and 22 degrees C to 1 h:23 h L:D and 5 degrees C over 4 weeks. The animals were left at 4 degrees C for a further 4 weeks to complete the process of cold-acclimation. M. tibialis anterior from control (euthermic) and cold-acclimated animals of similar mass showed a significant hyperactivity-induced hypertrophy in the rat, but a small disuse atrophy in the hamster. Little evidence was found for interconversion among fibre types in skeletal muscle on cold-acclimation, and only modest differences were seen in activity of oxidative or glycolytic enzymes in either species. However, adjustments in Type II fibre size paralleled the muscle hypertrophy in rat and atrophy in hamster. Cold-induced angiogenesis was present in the rat, averaging a 28 % increase in capillary-to-fibre ratio (C:F) but, as this was balanced by fibre hypertrophy across the whole muscle, there was no change in capillary density (CD). In contrast, the C:F was similar in both groups of hamsters, whereas CD rose by 33 % in line with fibre atrophy. Within distinct regions of the m. tibialis anterior, there was a correlation between angiogenesis and fibre size in rats, in which oxygen diffusion distance increased, but not in hamsters, in which there was a reduced oxygen diffusion distance. Consequently, the change in C:F was greatest (39 %) in the glycolytic cortex region of the m. tibialis anterior in rats. We conclude that non-hibernator and hibernator rodents improve peripheral oxygen transport following cold-acclimation by different mechanisms. In rats, an increase in fibre girth was accompanied by a true angiogenesis, while the improved apparent capillary supply in hamsters was due to smaller fibre diameters. These responses are consistent with the strategies of resisting and accommodating, respectively, an annual fall in environmental temperature.  (+info)

Modulation of gene expression made easy. (7/109)

A new approach for modulating gene expression, based on randomization of promoter (spacer) sequences, was developed. The method was applied to chromosomal genes in Lactococcus lactis and shown to generate libraries of clones with broad ranges of expression levels of target genes. In one example, overexpression was achieved by introducing an additional gene copy into a phage attachment site on the chromosome. This resulted in a series of strains with phosphofructokinase activities from 1.4 to 11 times the wild-type activity level. In this example, the pfk gene was cloned upstream of a gusA gene encoding beta-glucuronidase, resulting in an operon structure in which both genes are transcribed from a common promoter. We show that there is a linear correlation between the expressions of the two genes, which facilitates screening for mutants with suitable enzyme activities. In a second example, we show that the method can be applied to modulating the expression of native genes on the chromosome. We constructed a series of strains in which the expression of the las operon, containing the genes pfk, pyk, and ldh, was modulated by integrating a truncated copy of the pfk gene. Importantly, the modulation affected the activities of all three enzymes to the same extent, and enzyme activities ranging from 0.5 to 3.5 times the wild-type level were obtained.  (+info)

The structure of a pyrophosphate-dependent phosphofructokinase from the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. (8/109)

The structure of the 60 kDa pyrophosphate (PP(i))-dependent phosphofructokinase (PFK) from Borrelia burgdorferi has been solved and refined (R(free) = 0.243) at 2.55 A resolution. The domain structure of eubacterial ATP-dependent PFKs is conserved in B. burgdorferi PFK, and there are three large insertions relative to E. coli PFK, including a helical domain containing a hairpin structure that interacts with the active site. Asp177, conserved in all PP(i) PFKs, negates the binding of the alpha-phosphate group of ATP and likely contacts the essential Mg(2+) cation via a water molecule. Asn181 blocks the binding of the adenine moiety of ATP. Lys203 hydrogen bonds to a sulfate anion that likely mimics PP(i) substrate binding.  (+info)

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