Atlantic hagfish cardiac muscle: metabolic basis of tolerance to anoxia.

Oxygen tensions in the major venous inputs to the systemic and portal-vein hearts of normoxic Atlantic hagfish (12.3 +/- 1.7 and 11.0 +/- 1.6 mmHg, respectively) are low compared with typical vertebrate values. Anoxia and poisoning with cyanide and azide do not significantly affect in situ performance of the systemic heart. Idoacetate poisoning, however, results in a significant decrease in cardiac performance of the systemic heart to 12% of the initial value after 3 h. Activities of mitochondrial enzymes of hagfish ventricle suggest a small potential for aerobic metabolism compared with those in the aerobic ventricle of Atlantic cod. Activities of enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism indicate similar anaerobic capacity in hagfish and cod ventricle. The ratio of pyruvate kinase to cytochrome c oxidase, an index of anaerobic to aerobic capacity, is 5.6 times greater in hagfish than cod ventricle. Metabolite concentrations in freeze-clamped ventricles of normoxic and hypoxic hagfish indicate hypoxia-induced activation of glycogenolysis, enhanced substrate flow across 6-phosphofructokinase, and an apparent secondary constriction of glycolysis at the level of glyceraldehyde-phosphate dehydrogenase. Carbohydrate utilization via the glycolytic pathway appears essential for maintenance of cardiac performance in both normoxic and anoxic hagfish. Under conditions of severe hypoxia, ATP provision is probably met by anaerobic glycolysis.