Phosphocreatine pathway for energy transport: ADP diffusion and cardiomyopathy

¹ USSR Cardiology Research Center; and Institute of Transplantology and Artificial Organs, Ministry of Health of USSR, Moscow 121552, USSR

Chemically skinned (by treatment with saponin, 40 µg/ml) isolated cardiomyocytes were used to study the intracellular diffusion of ADP and creatine (Cr). Stimulation of respiration was studied in these cardiomyocytes without intact sarcolemma and in isolated heart mitochondrial by addition of ADP and Cr in the presence of 0.2 mM ATP (via mitochondrial creatine kinase reaction: Cr + MgATP = MgADP + PCr). The Michaelis constant (K_m) for Cr was similar in both cases, 5.67 ± 0.11 (SD) mM in skinned myocytes and 6.9 ± 0.2 mM in mitochondria, showing that there is no significant restriction to the diffusion of this substrate. However, the apparent K_m for external ADP increased from 17.6 ± 1.0 µM for mitochondria to 250 ± 38 µM for skinned cardiomyocytes, showing decreased diffusivity of ADP as a result of binding to cellular structures. In the presence of 25 mM Cr, the K_m for ADP for myocytes decreased to 35.6 ± 5.6 µM due to the coupling of the creatine kinase and oxidative phosphorylation reactions. Provision of substrate for the creatine kinase reaction amplified the weak ADP signal in the regulation of respiration. The activity of the mitochondrial creatine kinase was decreased by a factor of two in cardiomyopathic hamsters and human hearts and was associated with a twofold decrease in creatine-stimulated respiration. These data show a potentially key role of mitochondrial creatine kinase in the regulation of cellular respiration and the possible importance of changes in its activity for the functional disturbances of the cardiomyopathic heart.