Journal of Comparative Physiology B

, Volume 160, Issue 3, pp 331–338 | Cite as

Lactate: a substrate for reptilian muscle gluconeogenesis following exhaustive exercise

  • Todd T. Gleeson
  • Paula M. Dalessio
Article
Accepted:

Summary

The pattern of lactate and glycogen metabolism in red and white muscle fibers was examined in fasted, cannulated lizards (Dipsosaurus dorsalis) run on a treadmill to exhaustion. The white and red portions of the iliofibularis (wIF, rIF) muscle of the hindlimb were analyzed post-exercise and at intervals over 120 min of recovery for lactate and glycogen changes. Five min of exercise resulted in lactate concentrations of from 35 mM (rIF) to 48 mM (wIF) while blood lactate concentrations were elevated to 21 mM from resting levels of 1.8 mM. Glycogen depletion was significant (p<0.05) in whole hindlimb (−30%) and in wIF (−42%) but not in rIF (−25%). Metabolite changes were consistent with a pattern of fiber type recruitment favoring fast-twitch glycolytic (FG) fibers during high intensity locomotion. Glycogen replenishment during recovery was fiber typespecific. After 2 h recovery, whole hindlimb glycogen concentration had increased 24% above pre-exercise levels (p<0.05). Rates of glycogen resynthesis during recovery were significant only in oxidative fibers of the red iliofibularis. Animals were infused with either [U-14C]-lactate or [U-14C]-glucose at the point of exhaustion, and label incorporation into muscle glycogen was used to estimate the substrate preference for glycogenesis during recovery. Lactate uptake and incorporation occurred in both wIF and rIF. Glucose uptake and incorporation into glycogen was greatest in the rIF, where it equalled 9% of the rate of lactate incorporation. The rate of lactate incorporation could account for 67% of the rate of glycogen synthesis that occurred in oxidative fibers of the rIF. The data indicate that in contrast to mammalian muscle, reptilian muscle replenishes glycogen while it removes lactate, utilizing lactate directly as a gluconeogenic substrate. The data also suggest that lactate produced by FG fibers during exercise is utilized by oxidative fiber types post-exercise to synthesize glycogen in excess of pre-exercise levels.

Key words

Gluconeogenesis Glycogenesis Skeletal muscle Fiber types Lactate shuttle Glycogen 

Abbreviations

wIF, rIF

white, red portions of iliofibularis muscle

FG

fast-twitch, glycolytic muscle fiber

FOG

fast-twitch, oxidative, glycolytic muscle fiber

HPLC

high performance liquid chromatography

SA

specific activity

[LA]

lactate concentration

GLU

glucose

ANOVA

analysis of variance

C.I.

confidence interval

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1990

Authors and Affiliations

  • Todd T. Gleeson
    • 1
  • Paula M. Dalessio
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Environmental, Population and Organismic BiologyUniversity of ColoradoBoulderUSA

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