Differential response of enzyme activities in rat diaphragm and intercostal muscles to exercise training

To determine whether respiratory muscles undergo alterations in enzyme activities of energy metabolism as a result of increased mechanical activity, adult male Wistar rats were subjected to a prolonged endurance training program. Analysis off maximal enzyme activity patterns in the diaphragm following 15 weeks of extreme training (final running duration: 210 min per day, 27 m.min-1 at 15 degrees grade, indicated significant reductions in the marker enzymes of the citric acid cycle (citrate synthase), glycolysis (pyruvate kinase, PK; lactate dehydrogenase, LDH), ketone body utilization (3-keto acid: CoA transferase) and transamination (glutamate pyruvate transaminase, GPT). No changes were found for the enzymes of glycogenolysis (phosphorylase, PHOSPH), glycolysis (glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase, GAPDH), glucose phosphorylation (hexokinase, HK) and beta-oxidation (3-hydroxyacyl: CoA dehydrogenase, HAD) following training. In contrast, in the external intercostal muscle, increases in the range of 57-77% were noted for the enzymes CS and HAD, whereas in the internal intercostal muscles no training induced alteration was evident for these enzymes. For both the intercostal muscles, a consistent trend was noted towards a reduction in all of the glycolytic enzymes investigated, however, significantly lower values were recorded for only PK and LDH in the internal intercostals. GPT was increased in the internal intercostal muscles. These findings indicate that the response pattern observed in the enzyme activities studied following training are to some degree specific to the respiratory muscle investigated.