Effect of hydrogen ion concentration on energy metabolism in pig platelets

Respiration and glycolysis of pig platelets suspended in a dialyzed plasma were studied at various hydrogen ion concentrations. Respiration of platelets was high at acidic pH and decreased at physiological pH. This pH profile may not be attributed to properties of mitochondria, since the respiratory rate of mitochondria prepared from platelets was maximal at physiological pH. A low respiratory rate at physiological pH seemed to be attributable to depression of respiration by glycolysis, since the addition of glucose further depressed the rate. The Crabtree effect was more prominent at alkaline ph. glycolysis increased with an increase in the pH of the plasma, contrary to oxygen comsumption. The Pasteur effect was less prominent at alkaline pH. The effect of pH on lactate production by the cytosol fraction of platelets was similar to that of whole platelets. The glycolytic intermediate pattern showed that phosphofructolinase was the committed step. Both ATP concentration and ATP formation calculated from respiratory and glycolytic rates were constant at various pH values. These observations may indicate that the pH primarily affects platelet glycolysis at the phosphofructokinase step and the respiration is secondarily controlled by glycolysis.