Mitochondrial α-glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase activity in IIA fibres of the rat lateral gastrocnemius muscle; the effect of Ca²⁺ and ATP

Summary

Mitochondrial α-glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase is an important enzyme, but it is difficult to extract and purify. We have measured the activity of this enzyme in single type IIA skeletal muscle fibres under initial rate conditions by microdensitometry of the formazan reaction product.

The K_m (1.6mm) for the substrate (l-α-glycerol phosphate) was lower than reported for the extracted enzyme. Further, at low substrate concentrations (3mm), the enzyme was allosterically activated by free Ca²⁺ concentrations of 1 μm or greater, and half-maximal stimulation occurred at 0.3 μm free Ca²⁺. In the absence of Ca²⁺, there was negative cooperativity of substrate binding with a Hill constant of 0.57, but no cooperativity occurred in the presence of calcium. ATP (10mm) inhibited enzyme activity in the presence of Ca²⁺ but not in its absence.