Carbonic anhydrase in mouse skeletal muscle and its influence on contractility

Carbonic anhydrase III (EC 4.2.1.1) is the most abundant cytosolic protein in type I skeletal muscle fibers. Investigations of its physiological role have mostly been conducted with rat muscles, which sometimes are unsuitable for in vitro studies. The objective of the present study was to characterize the carbonic anhydrase in the mouse soleus muscle to verify if this muscle can be used as a model to further study the enzyme's function. Total carbonic anhydrase specific activity in the mouse soleus was comparable to the value for rat. However, 60% of the total carbonic anhydrase activity in the mouse was of the sulfonamide-sensitive type and, therefore, not related to carbonic anhydrase III. Electrophoretic analysis revealed the presence of a 29-kDa protein in total and cytosolic extracts of the mouse soleus. Immunoblotting with an antibody developed against rat carbonic anhydrase III showed that it was also specific for this 29-kDa peptide, which presumably is the mouse carbonic anhydrase III. Inhibition of the sulfonamide-sensitive activity had no effect on contractile and fatigue characteristics, whereas inhibition of the sulfonamide-resistant carbonic anhydrase III activity led to a significant increase in resistance to fatigue. We conclude that the mouse soleus may represent an excellent model to understand the contribution of different carbonic anhydrase isoforms to muscle physiology.