POTASSIUM CONTRACTURES AND CREATINE PHOSPHATE BREAKDOWN IN FROG MUSCLE.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to F D CARLSON.
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Using frog's sartorius muscles we have found no correlation between phosphocreatine hydrolysis and shortening under conditions (iodoacetate poisoning and anoxia) where this reaction was the only expected source of energy. Phosphocreatine hydrolysis did, however, show a constant term corresponding to the activation heat of A.V. Hill, and a linear term with work. It was concluded that shortening heat comes from some other chemical reaction, or else Hill's equation (E = A + W + ax) fails to describe correctly the energy output in a complete cycle of contraction and relaxation. To decide between these possibilities direct measurements of heat and work during a complete cycle were made. Also, experiments were performed in which heat, work, and phosphocreatine breakdown were measured simultaneously on the same muscles. The total energy output in a complete twitch could be most simply represented by a fixed "activation" heat, plus the work. There was no term corresponding to the shortening heat. Hill's equation must, therefore, be held as invalid for the complete isotonic twitch. A value of 9.8 +/- 0.5 (sE) kcal/mole was obtained for the in vivo heat of hydrolysis of phosphocreatine. This quantity showed no significant dependence on load, and it is in good agreement with the value obtained from thermochemical data. It is concluded that phosphocreatine hydrolysis and its associated buffer reactions can account quantitatively for the total energy output of isometric and isotonic twitches.
The dependence of PC(1) and ATP(1) dephosphorylation on the number of isometric twitches in the iodoacetate-nitrogen-poisoned muscle has been examined. There is no net dephosphorylation of adenosinetriphosphate. PC dephosphorylation varies linearly with the number of twitches and produces equivalent amounts of C(1) and P(1i).(1) Iodoacetate concentrations which block the enzyme, creatine phosphokinase, render the muscle non-contractile. A value of 0.286 micromole/gm. for the amount of PC split per twitch is obtained which gives a value of -9.62 kcal./mole for the "physiological" heat of hydrolysis of PC in agreement with expectations based on thermochemical data. In a single maximal isometric twitch it is estimated that 2 to 3 PC molecules are dephosphorylated per myosin molecule, or 1 per actin molecule. The results support the view that under the conditions of these experiments PC dephosphorylation is the net energy yielding reaction. The in vivo stoichiometry of the mechano-chemistry of contraction revealed by these studies on the one hand, and the known stoichiometry of actin polymerization and its coupling to the creatine phosphokinase system on the other are strikingly similar and strongly suggest that the reversible polymerization of actin is involved in a major way in the contraction-relaxation-recovery cycle of muscle.
The iodoacetate-nitrogen-poisoned muscle offers the possibility of studying the stoichiometry of the single muscle twitch since metabolic resynthesis by glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation are blocked, and there remains as an energy source only the creatine phosphoryltransfer system, creatine phosphate reacting with adenosinediphosphate to give the triphosphate and creatine. It is shown, preparatory to a determination of the amount of phosphocreatine split in a single twitch, that iodoacetate does not inhibit creatine phosphoryltransferase at concentrations which block glycolysis. An analysis is developed which assumes that the transferase maintains the creatine phosphoryl transfer reaction in equilibrium following contraction, and further that the creatine phosporyltransfer reaction and the myokinase reaction are isolated in muscle. On the basis of this analysis and the data obtained, an estimate of the equilibrium constant of the creatine phosphoryl reaction in muscle is obtained which agrees with values determined in vitro. Using the estimated equilibrium constant, and the concentrations of creatine, creatine phosphate, and adenosinetriphosphate found, a value for the concentration of free adenosinediphosphate is obtained which is considerably less than that found by direct chemical analysis.
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