Postnatal development of pyruvate oxidation in quadriceps muscle of the rat.

In order to evaluate the age dependency of enzymes involved in the energy-generating system, skeletal muscle specimens from rats of different ages were investigated for several mitochondrial enzymes. [1-14C]pyruvate (+/- ADP) oxidation rates and pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDHC) activity increased significantly from low early values during the neonatal period to nearly adult values at the end of the suckling period. Other enzymes of the pyruvate oxidation route such as citrate synthase and cytochrome c oxidase showed similar patterns of development. Immunoblot studies of PDHC detected a clear increase in the intensity of the bands of the alpha subunits of E1 (pyruvate dehydrogenase) and E2 (dihydrolipoyl transacetylase) within the first 3 weeks of life. The ratio between the individual PDHC proteins indicated that E1 alpha, the regulatory subunit of the multienzyme complex, is the most rapidly increasing protein with age.