Mitochondrial biogenesis is a critical adaptation to chronic energy deprivation, yet the signaling mechanisms responsible for this response are poorly understood. To examine the role of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an evolutionarily conserved fuel sensor, in mitochondrial biogenesis we studied transgenic mice expressing a dominant-negative mutant of AMPK in muscle (DN-AMPK). Both DN-AMPK and WT mice were treated with ␤-guanidinopropionic acid (GPA), a creatine analog, which led to similar reductions in the intramuscular ATP͞AMP ratio and phosphocreatine concentrations. In WT mice, GPA treatment resulted in activation of muscle AMPK and mitochondrial biogenesis. However, the same GPA treatment in DN-AMPK mice had no effect on AMPK activity or mitochondrial content. Furthermore, AMPK inactivation abrogated GPA-induced increases in the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ␥ coactivator 1␣ and calcium͞calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV (both master regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis). These data demonstrate that by sensing the energy status of the muscle cell, AMPK is a critical regulator involved in initiating mitochondrial biogenesis.␤-guanidinopropionic acid ͉ calcium͞calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IV ͉ peroxisome proliferator-activated ␥ receptor coactivator-1␣ ͉ AMP-activated protein kinase

The underlying mechanism by which skeletal muscle adapts to exercise training or chronic energy deprivation is largely unknown. To examine this question, rats were fed for 9 wk either with or without beta-guanadinopropionic acid (beta-GPA; 1% enriched diet), a creatine analog that is known to induce muscle adaptations similar to those induced by exercise training. Muscle phosphocreatine, ATP, and ATP/AMP ratios were all markedly decreased and led to the activation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the beta-GPA-fed rats compared with control rats. Under these conditions, nuclear respiratory factor-1 (NRF-1) binding activity, measured using a cDNA probe containing a sequence encoding for the promoter of delta-aminolevulinate (ALA) synthase, was increased by about eightfold in the muscle of beta-GPA-fed rats compared with the control group. Concomitantly, muscle ALA synthase mRNA and cytochrome c content were also increased. Mitochondrial density in both extensor digitorum longus and epitrochlearis from beta-GPA-fed rats was also increased by more than twofold compared with the control group. In conclusion, chronic phosphocreatine depletion during beta-GPA supplementation led to the activation of muscle AMPK that was associated with increased NRF-1 binding activity, increased cytochrome c content, and increased muscle mitochondrial density. Our data suggest that AMPK may play an important role in muscle adaptations to chronic energy stress and that it promotes mitochondrial biogenesis and expression of respiratory proteins through activation of NRF-1.

We searched for metabolic crossover points in muscle glucose metabolite profiles during maintenance of matched glucose fluxes across forearm muscle in insulin-resistant type I (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients and nondiabetic subjects. To classify subjects as insulin sensitive or insulin resistant, whole-body and forearm glucose disposal, oxidative and nonoxidative glucose disposal (indirect calorimetry), and glycogen synthesis (muscle glycogen content in needle biopsies) were measured under euglycemic conditions at two insulin concentrations. Whole-body and forearm muscle glucose disposal were significantly reduced in diabetic patients compared with control subjects. The reduction in total glucose disposal was due to similar relative reductions in oxidative and nonoxidative glucose disposal, pointing toward rate limitation early in glucose metabolism. The defect in nonoxidative glucose disposal was at least partly due to a defect in muscle glycogen synthesis, because muscle glycogen content failed to increase in response to an increase in the plasma insulin concentration in the diabetic patients. The most-insulin-resistant type 1 diabetic patients were restudied under conditions where, by glucose mass action, whole-body glucose disposal was forced to be similar to that in the control subjects. Matching glucose fluxes in the two groups resulted in similar rates of forearm and whole-body oxidative and nonoxidative glucose disposal and muscle glycogen synthesis, but it did not result in accumulation of free intracellular glucose, glucose-6-phosphate, glucose-1-phosphate, fructose-6-phosphate, or lactate in muscle. These data imply that the rate-limiting defect for glucose disposal in skeletal muscle of type I diabetic patients is at the level of glucose transport.

Administration of beta-guanidinopropionic acid (beta-GPA) to rats as 1% of their diet for 6 weeks led to an accumulation of beta-GPA and beta-GPA-phosphate and to a depletion of creatine and phosphocreatine in the fast-twitch plantaris muscle. Adenosine triphosphate concentration was also decreased. Electrophoretic analyses were performed to investigate the effects of beta-GPA on the patterns of fast (FM) and slow (SM) isomyosins, myosin heavy chain (HC) isoforms and myosin light chain (LC) isoforms. The relative concentrations of fast isomyosins FM1 and FM2 decreased, whereas slow isomyosin SM increased. The increase in slow isomyosin corresponded to an increase in the relative concentration of the slow myosin HCI. The changes of the myosin light chain pattern consisted of increases in the relative concentrations of the two slow isoforms, LC1sb and LC2s, and decreases in the fast isoforms LC2f and LC3f. These results demonstrate that beta-GPA administration, leading to a depletion in energy-rich phosphates and a reduced phosphorylation potential, has an impact on myosin isoform expression in rat fast-twitch skeletal muscle.