Enzyme activities in red and white muscles of guinea-pigs and rabbits indigenous to high altitude.

The activities of several enzymes functioning in different areas of fuel catabolism were measured under standardized conditions, using crude homogenates of sartorius and ventricular muscle from outbred guinea-pigs and rabbits indigenous to high or low altitude. The activities of sartorius and myocardium were found to reflect the metabolic patterns known to be associated with white and red muscle. Both species had right ventricular hypertrophy at high altitude. The enzyme activities in the high altitude guinea-pig were not significantly different from those in the sea level animals. In the high altitude rabbit, compared with the low altitude rabbit, the activities of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate deydrogenase and phosphofructokinase were greater in both the sartorius and myocardium. In addition, mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity was greater in the sartorius at high altitude, while aspartate aminotransferase and beta-hydroxyacylcoenzyme A dehydrogenase activities were greater in the myocardium at high altitude. Succinate dehydrogenase activity was comparable at the two altitudes for both tissues. There was a greater proportion of skeletal muscle type lactate dehydrogenase in the high altitude rabbit myocardium but no difference was found with the guinea-pig.