We conclude that enterically coated oral ATP supplementation may provide small ergogenic effects on muscular strength under some treatment conditions.

We have developed an integrated package that includes software programs and algorithms for measuring in vivo total blood ATP, extracellular blood ATP, blood ATP release rates, and plasma ATP breakdown rates. This clinically tested methodology improves upon existing luciferin/luciferase and highperformance liquid chromatography assay techniques in that it involves the multidetector luminometric system for determination of blood ATP parameters with simultaneous monitoring of ATP standards and standard curve generations with r 2 > 0.99 and increased speed of preparation and assay time (time necessarily for 96-well plate preparation, assay itself, and analysis). The system and associated software program permits analysis blood ATP parameters in mol, mol/L, or mol/red blood cell (RBC) and has been extensively tested with samples measured in clinics and with samples obtained and measured at the patient bedside. The mobility of the system and ability to perform measurements on location is an important consideration and feature because of the fact that ATP blood levels are rapidly hydrolyzed and hence extremely sensitive to any perturbations associated with any vigorous manipulations during the processing and analysis. EDTA inhibition of extracellular ATP hydrolysis permits determination of extracellular ATP (plasma) and ATP release rates levels performed by iterative measurements performed on sequentially diluted blood aliquots. Back-extrapolation permits close approximation of the in vivo blood ATP parameters. The assay system is capable of detecting RBC ATP release rates as low as 10,000 ATP molecules Á RBC À1 min À1 . Drug Dev. Res. 59:152-160, 2003.

The pharmacokinetics of adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) was investigated in a clinical trial that included 15 patients with advanced malignancies (solid tumors). ATP was administered by continuous intravenous infusions of 8 h once weekly for 8 weeks. Three values of blood ATP levels were determined. These were total blood (erythrocyte) and blood plasma (extracellular) ATP pools along with the initial rate of release of ATP into the blood plasma. We found that values related to erythrocyte ATP pools showed great variability (diversity) among individuals (standard deviation of about 30-40 % of mean at baseline). It was discovered that erythrocyte baseline ATP pool sizes are unique to each individual and that they fall within a narrow range in each individual. At the end of an 8 h continuous intravenous infusion of ATP, intracellular erythrocyte ATP pools were increased in the range of 40-60 % and extracellular ATP declined from elevated levels achieved at the beginning and middle of the infusion, to baseline levels. The ability of erythrocytes to sequester exogenously administered ATP to this degree, after its initial conversion to adenosine in the blood plasma is unexpected, considering that some of the adenosine is likely to have been degraded by in vivo catabolic activities or taken up by organs. The data suggest that administration of ATP by short-term intravenous infusions, of up to 4 h, may be a favorable way for elevating extracellular ATP pools. A large fraction of the total exogenously administered ATP is sequestered into the intracellular compartments of the erythrocytes after an 8 h intravenous infusion. Erythrocytes loaded with ATP are known to release their ATP pools by the application of previously established agents or conditions applied locally or globally to circulating erythrocytes. Rapid degradation of intravenously administered ATP to adenosine and subsequent accumulation of ATP inside erythrocytes indicate the existence of very effective mechanisms for uptake of adenosine from blood plasma. These in vivo studies offer an understanding as to how both adenosine and ATP can act as purinergic transmission signals. ATP levels in blood are always accompanied by adenosine formed by catabolism of ATP. The continuous uptake of adenosine enables both to act in transmission of sometimes opposite functions.

Treatment with dipyridamole blocked the red blood cell uptake of extracellular adenosine and therefore its subsequent intracellular conversion to ATP. The biodistribution studies indicate that the tracer has substantial accumulation in the kidneys, lungs, heart, and blood. [11C]AMP is promising as a PET-imaging agent to trace adenylate biology in vivo.

Elevated blood ATP and increased red blood cell (RBC) ATP transport is associated with cystic fibrosis (CF). In this report, we demonstrate the presence of the wild-type and the DeltaF508 mutant form of the CF transmembrane conductance regulator protein in RBC membranes and its putative interaction with ecto-apyrase, an ATP hydrolyzing enzyme also present in the RBC membrane. RBC membranes of control and DeltaF508 individuals and of wild-type and CF transmembrane conductance regulator-knockout mice were examined by immunoblot using several antibodies directed against different epitopes of this protein. These experiments indicated that human RBC membranes contain comparable amounts of the wild-type CF transmembrane conductance regulator protein and the DeltaF508 mutant form of the protein, respectively. CF transmembrane conductance regulator protein was also detected in wild-type mouse RBC membranes but not in the gene knockout mouse RBC membranes. Antibodies directed against ecto-apyrase co-immunoprecipitated CF transmembrane conductance regulator protein of human RBC membranes indicating a physical interaction between these two membrane proteins consistent with ATP transport and extracellular hydrolysis. We conclude that RBCs are a significant repository of CF transmembrane conductance regulator protein and should provide a novel system for evaluating its expression and function.