Metabolic alterations associated with increased energy demand in fish white muscle

Summary Time course measurements of glycogen, lactate, creatine phosphate, the adenylates and ammonia contents were made during the transition from rest to various levels of activity in fish (Macrozoarces americanus) white muscle. The muscle was perturbed by direct electrical stimulation resulting in sustained tetanus, 60 contractions/min or 20 contractions/min. Increased ATP demand was invariably associated with decreases in creatine phosphate followed by increases in lactate levels. The contribution of creatine phosphate to anaerobic energy production was equivalent to that of anaerobic glycolysis. In addition, decreases in creatine phosphate content may play an important role in the facilitation of glycolytic flux presumably by relief of inhibition of phosphofructokinase. Under some conditions the work transition was associated with an initial transient increase in ATP content which could not be accounted for by decreases in ADP and AMP levels. Furthermore, ammonia content was noted to oscillate during the work period, a feature which is fundamentally different from that which occurs in mammalian muscle.