Mitochondrial respiration in the ventricular myocardium and in the white and deep red myotomal muscles of juvenile tuna fish (thunnus thynnus L.).

The respiratory activity of mitochondria isolated from the outer and inner layers of the ventricular myocardium and from the white and deep red myotomal muscles of juvenile Thunnus thynnus has been compared. The highest values for the succinate oxidase and succinate cytochrome c reductase activities have been found in the mitochondria of the outer myocardial layer, followed by mitochondria of the deep red muscle, the inner myocardial layer and the white muscle in that order. Differences in mitochondrial NADH-cytochrome c reductase activity run parallel, in a lower order of magnitude, to the differences in the oxidation of succinate. This finding is discussed in relation to the different metabolic attitudes of the muscle tissues towards anaerobic glycolysis. The outer myocardial layer of the juvenile tuna ventricle has been shown to have a higher metabolic activity than the inner layer, in contrast to the situation in adult ventricular myocardium.