To investigate mitochondrial regulation and its response to a defect in oxidative metabolism, we used 31P-magnetic resonance spectroscopy to study phosphocreatine (PCr) recovery in rat leg muscle after sciatic nerve stimulation at 1-4 Hz. We studied normal animals and animals with defective skeletal muscle mitochondrial function after experimental cardiac infarction. To analyze these data, we used three current theoretical approaches to the control of mitochondrial ATP synthesis, based on its hyperbolic relationship to cytosolic ADP concentration and on its linear relationships to PCr concentration and the free energy of ATP hydrolysis. The mitochondrial ADP concentration for one-half maximum rate of ATP synthesis appeared at least twice as high as the 30 microM expected from in vitro studies. According to all three approaches, the apparent maximum rate of ATP synthesis was independent of stimulation frequency and end-exercise pH and PCr and ADP concentrations and was reduced by approximately 50% after experimental cardiac infarction. Analysis of PCr recovery kinetics is a robust and practical way to study mitochondrial regulation and to quantify effective mitochondrial defects in vivo.

We used 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy to compare the response of rat skeletal muscle to three kinds of proton load. During exercise (tetanic sciatic nerve stimulation), protons from lactic acid were buffered passively and consumed by net hydrolysis of phosphocreatine (PCr). During recovery from exercise, the pH-dependent efflux of protons produced by PCr resynthesis could be partially inhibited by amiloride or 4,4'-diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2'-disulphonate (DIDS), implicating both sodium/proton and bicarbonate/chloride exchange, but was not inhibited by simultaneous respiratory acidosis. In early recovery, up to 30% of proton efflux was mediated by lactate/proton cotransport. During acute respiratory acidosis at rest, the eventual change in muscle pH was consistent with passive buffering and was unaffected by amiloride or DIDS, implying no significant contribution of proton fluxes.

Objective-To examine the effect of a relatively low dose of creatine on skeletal muscle metabolism and oxygen supply in a group of training athletes. Methods-"P magnetic resonance and near-infrared spectroscopy were used to study calf muscle metabolism in a group of 10 female members of a university swimming team. Studies were performed before and after a six week period of training during which they took either 2 g creatine daily or placebo. Calf muscle metabolism and creatine/choline ratios were studied in resting muscle, during plantar flexion exercise (10-15 min), and during recovery from exercise. Results-There was no effect of creatine on metabolite ratios at rest or on metabolism during exercise and recovery from exercise. Muscle oxygen supply and exercise performance were not improved by creatine if compared to placebo treated subjects.Conclusions-Oral creatine supplementation at 2 g daily has no effect on muscle creatine concentration, muscle oxygen supply or muscle aerobic or anaerobic metabolism during endurance exercise. (BrJ Sports Med 1996;30:222-225) We used 31p and 'H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to examine noninvasively the effect of a longer course of a lower dose of creatine on the constituents of the creatine kinase reaction in resting and exercising skeletal muscle in a group of athletes. We coupled the MRS studies with a study of muscle reoxygenation rate using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The study was conducted in a placebo controlled fashion and the subjects were studied before and after six weeks of either placebo or creatine treatment. Methods SUBJECTSTen non-vegetarian female athletes [lean body mass 45.7 (SEM 1.1) kg] from the university swimming team were studied by 3p MRS and NIRS immediately before an eight week training period leading up to an intervarsity competition. Six weeks after the initial studies, the MRS and NIRS studies were repeated. The performance times of each subject swimming freestyle over 100 m and 400 m were recorded within one week of the MRS study.

Thinness at birth is associated with insulin resistance and an increased prevalence of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in adult life. As muscle is an important site of insulin resistance, and because thin babies have reduced muscle mass, thinness at birth may affect muscle structure and function and impair carbohydrate metabolism. We have therefore used 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy to investigate the bioenergetics of gastrocnemius and flexor digitorum superficialis muscles in 16 normoglycaemic women who had a low ( < or = 23 kg/m3) and 9 women who had a high (> 23 kg/m3) ponderal index at birth. In the flexor digitorum superficialis study anaerobic metabolism was stressed with a constant heavy workload. Low ponderal index subjects fatigued more rapidly (3.3 vs 5.8 min); as phosphocreatine decreased, the accompanying drop in muscle pH was less than in the high ponderal index group. In the first minute of exercise phosphocreatine fell and adenosine diphosphate rose more rapidly (p=0.04 and 0.03, respectively). Gastrocnemius showed a similar trend late in exercise (this exercise was more oxidative, becoming more anaerobic with increasing workload). These changes were not explained by differences in body composition, muscle mass or blood flow. The findings are consistent with a decreased lactic acid and glycolytic adenosine triphosphate production in the low ponderal index group and suggest the possibility that the mechanisms which control substrate utilisation and metabolism in adult life be programmed during prenatal life.