Increased muscular beta-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase with McArdle's disease

Enzymes of energy production were measured in muscle homogenates and in individual muscle fibers from 5 patients with McArdle's disease. Individual fibers were investigated to determine whether fibers of all types were completely devoid of glycogen phosphorylase activity and whether the involved fibers might be biochemically altered in a fiber type dependent manner to enhance the energy-generating capabilities of the cells through other metabolic pathways. Using highly sensitive biochemical assays, a complete absence of glycogen phosphorylase, a and b, activity was found in fibers of all types in the McArdle's patients. Levels of enzymes representing glycolysis, the Krebs cycle, and high energy phosphate metabolism were essentially normal in each fiber type, indicating an apparent lack in metabolic adaptation of these energy pathways to the absence of glycogen utilization. However, a key enzyme in the beta-oxidation of fatty acids (beta-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase, beta OAC) was elevated in all patients, and substantially in 4 of the 5. This suggested that lipid substrates can provide support for oxidative endurance capacity in some patients. Individual fiber analyses indicated that the compensation involved fibers of all types.