Effect of exercise on amino acid incorporation into myocardial contractile proteins.

Amino acid incorporation into myocardial protein was studied in rats after an acute bout of exhaustive swimming. Hearts were removed at exhaustion, 1, 2, or 4 h of recovery and amino acid incorporation measured using [3H] phenylalanine in an isolated perfused heart preparation. Amino acid incorporation into total tissue protein was reduced 30% at exhaustion but returned to normal by 1 h of recovery and showed no further change 4 h post exercise. In the myofibrillar fraction amino acid incorporation decreased slightly after exhaustive exercise but was stimulated by 57% following 2 h recovery. Myosin, electrophoretically fractionated showed an 84% stimulation in phenylalanine incorporation at exhaustion and 112% increase 2 h post exercise. Amino acid incorporation into myosin light chains (LC1 and LC2) accounted for most of the increased rate of synthesis. These data suggest that there was a preferential increase in myocardial protein synthesis following exercise which was associated with the myosin light chain components of the contractile proteins.