The kinetics of regulation of mitochondrial respiration by endogenous and exogenous ADP in muscle cells in situ was studied in skinned cardiac and skeletal muscle fibres. Endogenous ADP production was initiated by addition of MgATP; under these conditions the respiration rate and ADP concentration in the medium were dependent on the calcium concentration, and 70-80% of maximal rate of respiration was achieved at ADP concentration below 20 microM in the medium. In contrast, when exogenous ADP was added, maximal respiration rate was observed only at millimolar concentrations. An exogenous ADP-consuming system consisting of pyruvate kinase (PK; 20-40 units/ml) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP; 5 mM), totally suppressed respiration activated by exogenous ADP, but the respiration maintained by endogenous ADP was not suppressed by more than 20-40%. Creatine (20 mM) further activated respiration in the presence of ATP and PK+PEP. Short treatment with trypsin (50-500 nM for 5 min) decreased the apparent K(m) for exogenous ADP from 300-350 microM to 50-60 microM, increased inhibition of respiration by PK+PEP system up to 70-80%, with no changes in MgATPase activity and maximal respiration rates. Electron-microscopic observations showed detachment of mitochondria and disordering of the regular structure of the sarcomere after trypsin treatment. Two-dimensional electrophoresis revealed a group of at least seven low-molecular-mass proteins in cardiac skinned fibres which were very sensitive to trypsin and not present in glycolytic fibres, which have low apparent K(m) for exogenous ADP. It is concluded that, in oxidative muscle cells, mitochondria are incorporated into functional complexes ('intracellular energetic units') with adjacent ADP-producing systems in myofibrils and in sarcoplasmic reticulum, probably due to specific interaction with cytoskeletal elements responsible for mitochondrial distribution in the cell. It is suggested that these complexes represent the basic pattern of organization of muscle-cell energy metabolism.

Regulation of mitochondrial respiration in situ in the muscle cells was studied by using fully permeabilized muscle fibers and cardiomyocytes. The results show that the kinetics of regulation of mitochondrial respiration in situ by exogenous ADP are very different from the kinetics of its regulation by endogenous ADP. In cardiac and m. soleus fibers apparent K(m) for exogenous ADP in regulation of respiration was equal to 300-400 microM. However, when ADP production was initiated by intracellular ATPase reactions, the ADP concentration in the medium leveled off at about 40 microM when about 70% of maximal rate of respiration was achieved. Respiration rate maintained by intracellular ATPases was suppressed about 20-30% during exogenous trapping of ADP with excess pyruvate kinase (PK, 20 IU/ml) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP, 5 mM). ADP flux via the external PK+PEP system was decreased by half by activation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. Creatine (20 mM) further activated the respiration in the presence of PK+PEP. It is concluded that in oxidative muscle cells mitochondria behave as if they were incorporated into functional complexes with adjacent ADP producing systems - with the MgATPases in myofibrils and Ca,MgATPases of sarcoplasmic reticulum.

The aim of this review is to analyze the results of experimental research of mechanisms of regulation of mitochondrial respiration in cardiac and skeletal muscle cells in vivo obtained by using the permeabilized cell technique. Such an analysis in the framework of Molecular Systems Bioenergetics shows that the mechanisms of regulation of energy fluxes depend on the structural organization of the cells and interaction of mitochondria with cytoskeletal elements. Two types of cells of cardiac phenotype with very different structures were analyzed: adult cardiomyocytes and continuously dividing cancerous HL-1 cells. In cardiomyocytes mitochondria are arranged very regularly, and show rapid configuration changes of inner membrane but no fusion or fission, diffusion of ADP and ATP is restricted mostly at the level of mitochondrial outer membrane due to an interaction of heterodimeric tubulin with voltage dependent anion channel, VDAC. VDAC with associated tubulin forms a supercomplex, Mitochondrial Interactosome, with mitochondrial creatine kinase, MtCK, which is structurally and functionally coupled to ATP synthasome. Due to selectively limited permeability of VDAC for adenine nucleotides, mitochondrial respiration rate depends almost linearly upon the changes of cytoplasmic ADP concentration in their physiological range. Functional coupling of MtCK with ATP synthasome amplifies this signal by recycling adenine nucleotides in mitochondria coupled to effective phosphocreatine synthesis. In cancerous HL-1 cells this complex is significantly modified: tubulin is replaced by hexokinase and MtCK is lacking, resulting in direct utilization of mitochondrial ATP for glycolytic lactate production and in this way contributing in the mechanism of the Warburg effect. Systemic analysis of changes in the integrated system of energy metabolism is also helpful for better understanding of pathogenesis of many other diseases.

Recent studies have revealed the structural and functional interactions between mitochondria, myofibrils and sarcoplasmic reticulum in cardiac cells. Direct channeling of adenosine phosphates between organelles identified in the experiments indicates that diffusion of adenosine phosphates is limited in cardiac cells due to very specific intracellular structural organization. However, the mode of diffusion restrictions and nature of the intracellular structures in creating the diffusion barriers is still unclear, and, therefore, a subject of active research. The aim of this work is to analyze the possible role of two principally different modes of restriction distribution for adenosine phosphates (a) the uniform diffusion restriction and (b) the localized diffusion limitation in the vicinity of mitochondria, by fitting the experimental data with the mathematical model. The reaction-diffusion model of compartmentalized energy transfer was used to analyze the data obtained from the experiments with the skinned muscle fibers, which described the following processes: mitochondrial respiration rate dependency on exogenous ADP and ATP concentrations; inhibition of endogenous ADP-stimulated respiration by pyruvate kinase (PK) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) system; kinetics of oxygen consumption stabilization after addition of 2 mM MgATP or MgADP; ATPase activity with inhibited mitochondrial respiration; and buildup of MgADP concentration in the medium after addition of MgATP. The analysis revealed that only the second mechanism considered--localization of diffusion restrictions--is able to account for the experimental data. In the case of uniform diffusion restrictions, the model solution was in agreement only with two measurements: the respiration rate as a function of ADP or ATP concentrations and inhibition of respiration by PK + PEP. It was concluded that intracellular diffusion restrictions for adenosine phosphates are not distributed uniformly, but rather are localized in certain compartments of the cardiac cells.

The kinetics of regulation of mitochondrial respiration by endogenous and exogenous ADP in muscle cells in situ was studied in skinned cardiac and skeletal muscle fibres. Endogenous ADP production was initiated by addition of MgATP; under these conditions the respiration rate and ADP concentration in the medium were dependent on the calcium concentration, and 70–80% of maximal rate of respiration was achieved at ADP concentration below 20μM in the medium. In contrast, when exogenous ADP was added, maximal respiration rate was observed only at millimolar concentrations. An exogenous ADP-consuming system consisting of pyruvate kinase (PK; 20–40units/ml) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP; 5mM), totally suppressed respiration activated by exogenous ADP, but the respiration maintained by endogenous ADP was not suppressed by more than 20–40%. Creatine (20mM) further activated respiration in the presence of ATP and PK+PEP. Short treatment with trypsin (50–500nM for 5min) decreased the apparent Km for exogenous ADP from 300–350μM to 50–60μM, increased inhibition of respiration by PK+PEP system up to 70–80%, with no changes in MgATPase activity and maximal respiration rates. Electron-microscopic observations showed detachment of mitochondria and disordering of the regular structure of the sarcomere after trypsin treatment. Two-dimensional electrophoresis revealed a group of at least seven low-molecular-mass proteins in cardiac skinned fibres which were very sensitive to trypsin and not present in glycolytic fibres, which have low apparent Km for exogenous ADP. It is concluded that, in oxidative muscle cells, mitochondria are incorporated into functional complexes (‘intracellular energetic units’) with adjacent ADP-producing systems in myofibrils and in sarcoplasmic reticulum, probably due to specific interaction with cytoskeletal elements responsible for mitochondrial distribution in the cell. It is suggested that these complexes represent the basic pattern of organization of muscle-cell energy metabolism.