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Adaptive Modification of Amino Acid Pools in the Myocardium of a Long-Tailed Ground Squirrel Urocitellus undulatus at Different Stages of Hibernation

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Abstract

The state of hibernation is characterized by an increased tolerance to long-term deep hypothermia, hypoxia, lack of food and water. At the same time, even a short-term reorganization of the adaptive mechanisms at low temperatures causes significant metabolic changes in animals, reflected in the amino acid profile. Metabolic changes in myocardial free amino acids during hibernation have not actually been studied, although the knowledge of these processes is important for deeper insight into the mechanisms of hibernation, relevant for clinical medicine. The aim of this work was to study the changes in the composition of myocardial free amino acids in a ground squirrel Urocitellus undulatus at different stages of hibernation. A negative interdependence of glutamic acid and alanine pools was revealed at different stages of torpor. The level of glutamic acid, as compared to the summer control (5.08 ± 0.44 µmol/g of wet weight), began to decline in the first (December) torpor bout, continued throughout prolonged torpor (down to 1.57 ± 0.14 µmol/g), and was accompanied by an increase in the alanine pool. During winter arousal, the glutamic acid pool rose above the summer level, while the alanine pool fell below that, with their total level remaining unchanged. Aspartic acid and glycine pools declined in parallel with the decrease in glutamate and aspartate pools, however, during winter arousal, glycine was not detected whatsoever. Given the involvement of glutamic acid and aspartate in anaplerotic reactions of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and the reciprocal relationship of glutamic acid and alanine, it is concluded that the changes in the level of these metabolites at different stages of hibernation bouts reflect a gradual transition from aerobic (TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation) to anaerobic glycolysis, and vice versa during euthermia.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors are sincerely grateful to A.S. Averin who obtained the biomaterial used in this study.

Funding

This work was implemented within the State assignment to the ICB RAS entitled “Mechanisms of natural and induced hypobiosis”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Cell Biophysics, Pushchino Scientific Center for Biological Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino, Russia

    M. V. Karanova & N. M. Zakharova

Authors
  1. M. V. Karanova
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  2. N. M. Zakharova
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Contributions

Conceptualization and experimental design (M.V.K.), data collection (M.V.K.), data processing (M.V.K., N.M.Z.), writing and editing the manuscript (M.V.K., N.M.Z.).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to M. V. Karanova.

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COMPLIANCE WITH ETHICAL STANDARDS

All applicable international, national and/or institutional principles of animal care and use were observed. All experimental procedures performed with the involvement of animals complied with ethical standards approved by legal acts of the Russian Federation, the principles of the Basel Declaration, and were approved by the Bioethics Committee of the Institute of Cell Biophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Meeting minutes 3/092021 of 08/09/2021) in accordance with the Directive 2010/63/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of September 22, 2010 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest related to the publication of this article.

Additional information

Translated by A. Polyanovsky

Russian Text © The Author(s), 2023, published in Zhurnal Evolyutsionnoi Biokhimii i Fiziologii, 2023, Vol. 59, No. 4, pp. 262–270https://doi.org/10.31857/S0044452923040034.

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Karanova, M.V., Zakharova, N.M. Adaptive Modification of Amino Acid Pools in the Myocardium of a Long-Tailed Ground Squirrel Urocitellus undulatus at Different Stages of Hibernation. J Evol Biochem Phys 59, 1027–1036 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0022093023040038

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