The study of energy metabolism in denervated skeletal muscle with 31P-NMR.

1. The denervated frog sartorius muscle showed a decrease in the energy store more than that in the control. 2. In the caffeine contractures, both the denervated and the innervated muscles showed similar sequential changes in the relative concentration of phosphocreatine (PCr) to beta-adenosine triphosphate (beta-ATP) and inorganic phosphate (Pi) to beta-ATP. Instead, the intracellular pH value of the denervated muscle was lower than that of the control. 3. It is suggested that phosphate metabolism of the denervated muscle during contracture shows little difference from that of the control, nevertheless, the buffering capacity is decreased in the early stage of atrophy.