Species-specific effects of chronic nerve stimulation upon tibialis anterior muscle in mouse, rat, guinea pig, and rabbit.

Tibialis anterior (TA) muscle of mouse, rat, guinea pig, and rabbit was indirectly stimulated for 10 h/day at 10 Hz up to 28 days. Changes in the activity levels of hexokinase (HK), phosphofructokinase (PFK), glyceraldehydephosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), citrate synthase (CS), malate dehydrogenase (MDH), 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (HADH), and beta-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase (HBDH) were compared. Although the direction of changes in the enzyme activity pattern was in accordance with previous findings on rabbit TA, the magnitude of the responses varied markedly between the mammals under study. Mouse TA was almost unaffected. A major effect of chronic stimulation in rat, guinea pig and rabbit was an increase in enzyme activities of aerobic-oxidative metabolism. According to intrinsic differences of the muscles under study, the increases varied among the species and appeared to be inversely related to the basal levels of these enzymes in the unstimulated muscles. Conversely, glycolytic enzyme activities (PFK, GAPDH, LDH) markedly decreased in rat, guinea pig, and rabbit, and were only slightly reduced in mouse. Changes in HK and HBDH activities displayed the largest variations in the induced change between species. These results indicate species-specific patterns of metabolic adaptation to increased contractile activity.