Effect of dietary manipulations (fasting, hypocaloric feeding, and subsequent refeeding) on rat muscle energetics as assessed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy in vivo and fluorometry were used to measure muscle ATP, total creatine, pH, and Mg2+ in vivo; and to calculate creatine phosphate (CrP), the ratios of CrP/inorganic phosphate (Pi), CrP/ATP, free ADP levels, and the free-energy change in ATP hydrolysis so nutritional effects could be ascertained. These parameters were determined in vivo in resting control, 2-d-fasted, and hypocalorically fed rats and in animals similarly hypocalorically fed and then refed. The ATP, Pi, and intracellular Mg2+ levels were comparable in the four groups. When the fasted and underfed animals were compared with the control and refed animals, there were falls in the ratios of CrP/Pi and CrP/ATP, in the calculated CrP, and the free-energy change of ATP hydrolysis, but a rise in the calculated free ADP. In the hypocaloric group, intracellular pH fell significantly and a large peak was noted in the phosphodiester region. The data are consistent with the hypothesis that ATP levels are maintained at the cost of CrP, suggesting that ATP production is disturbed by aerobic and anaerobic mechanisms.