Enzymatic and mitochondrial responses to 5 months of aerial exposure in the slender lungfish Protopterus dolloi |
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Authors: | J. F. Staples,&dagger ,M. Kajimura,&Dagger § ,C. M. Wood,&Dagger ,M. Patel,&Dagger ,Y. K. Ip,¶ G. B. McClelland,&Dagger |
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Affiliation: | Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London ON, N6A 5B7 Canada; , Department of Biology, McMaster University, Hamilton ON, L8S 4K1 Canada; , Biological Laboratory, Faculty of Education, Wakayama University, Sakaedani 930, Wakayama 640-8510, Japan; , Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science; and Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Science Dive 4, 117543, Singapore |
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Abstract: | Mitochondrial respiration and activities of key metabolic enzymes from liver and white skeletal muscle were compared between control aquatic slender lungfish Protopterus dolloi , and those exposed to air for 5 months. Activities of citrate synthase, glycogen phosphorylase, phosphofructokinase and pyruvate kinase in liver were not affected by air-exposure. In muscle, air-exposure reduced citrate synthase and pyruvate kinase activities (relative to tissue wet mass) by 63 and 50%, respectively. Liver carnitine palmitoyl transferase activity (relative to mitochondrial protein) decreased by half following air-exposure, but there was no change in muscle. In mitochondria isolated from muscle, state 3 and state 4 respiration were reduced by 74 and 89%, respectively following air-exposure, but liver mitochondria were not affected. In liver, air-exposure increased activities of ornithine-urea cycle enzymes including glutamine synthase, carbamoyl-phosphate synthase III and arginase, by 1·9- to 4·2-fold. Carbamoyl-phosphate synthase III activity could not be detected in muscle, indicating that urea is not synthesized in this tissue. These data suggest that skeletal muscle metabolism is downregulated in air-exposure, conserving energy and protein during a period when the animals cannot forage. In contrast, ATP production capacities in the liver are maintained, and this may permit expensive urea biosynthesis to continue during aerial exposure. |
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Keywords: | aestivation Dipnoi glycolysis ornithine-urea cycle oxidative phosphorylation |
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