EFFECTS OF HYPOXIA AND PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENT ON ENZYME-ACTIVITIES IN SKELETAL-MUSCLE OF RATS OF DIFFERENT AGES

The activities of enzymes related to energy metabolism in the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles in young-adult (4 months), mature (12 months), and senescent (24 months) rats were compared after continuous (72 consecutive h) exposure to normobaric hypoxia or normoxia after the vasodilator naftidrofuryl or saline solution had been given intraperitoneally for 30 consecutive days. The maximum rates (V(max)) of the following enzyme activities in the crude extract and/or the crude mitochondrial fraction of each muscle specimen were evaluated for: the anaerobic glycolytic pathway (hexokinase, phosphofructokinase, pyruvate kinase, and lactate dehydrogenase), the tricarboxylic acid cycle (citrate synthase, and malate dehydrogenase), the electron transfer chain (cytochrome oxidase), and the NAD+/NADH redox state (total NADH cytochrome c reductase). The significance of differences between the enzyme activities at different ages or under different experimental conditions in the two tissue preparations of the two muscles were determined by ANOVA. MCA and ETA2 were used to evaluate the net effects of the experimental conditions. First, aging did not seem to affect the soleus and gastrocnemius muscles in the same way. In the gastrocnemius muscle, the major changes were seen in enzymes of the glycolytic pathway, in the crude extracts. In the soleus muscle, the more striking changes in enzyme activities as a function of aging were found in the crude mitochondrial fraction. We also found that hypoxia caused more important changes in 12-month-old rats than in those of other ages (especially the enzyme activities of the gastrocnemius muscle). Naftidrofuryl modified the effects of hypoxia only sometimes and further investigations are necessary before we can draw any conclusions about the pharmacological activity of naftidrofuryl in hypoxia.