Mitochondrial ATP-synthase activity in cardiomyocytes after aerobic-anaerobic metabolic transition

It has been hypothesized that, in oxygen-depleted myocardial cells, mitochondria are depolarized and the F1,F0-proton adenosinetriphosphatase (ATPase) catalyzes net ATP hydrolysis when the cells exhibit the signs of an aerobic-anaerobic metabolic transition, which are increased lactate formation and decline in high-energy phosphate reserves [W. Rouslin, C. W. Broge, and I. L. Grupp. Am. J. Physiol. 259 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 28): H1759-H1766, 1990]. This hypothesis was tested by incubating isolated cardiomyocytes from the adult rat in substrate-free Tyrode solution (37 degrees C, pH 7.4) at a PO2 less than or equal to 0.1 Torr, i.e., 1,000-fold below the normal arterial level. At this deep hypoxia, the following results were found. 1) Lactate production was activated to maximal rates and high-energy phosphate contents decreased (aerobic-anaerobic metabolic transition). The inhibitor of the mitochondrial F1,F0-proton ATPase oligomycin, however, added upon establishment of hypoxia, did not slow down, as in the case of depolarized mitochondria, but moderately accelerated energy depletion. 2) Activation of mitochondrial ATP hydrolysis could be provoked in these hypoxic cells by addition of cyanide, antimycin A, and rotenone, i.e., specific inhibitors of certain sites of the respiratory chain. The enhancement of loss of ATP could be inhibited by oligomycin. The results demonstrate that states of deep hypoxia of the cardiomyocyte are possible in which it undergoes an aerobic-anaerobic metabolic transition, indicated by increased lactate formation and progressive loss of cellular energy reserves, and yet mitochondrial ATPase hydrolytic activity is not activated.