Oxidative myocytes of heart and skeletal muscle express abundant sarcomeric mitochondrial creatine kinase.

Sarcomeric mitochondrial creatine kinase catalyzes the reversible transfer of a high energy phosphate between ATP and creatine. To study cellular distribution of the kinase, we performed immunocytochemical studies using a peptide antiserum specific for the kinase protein. Our results demonstrated that the sarcomeric mitochondrial creatine kinase gene is abundantly expressed in heart and skeletal muscle, with no protein detected in other tissues examined, including brain, lung, liver, spleen, kidney, bladder, testis, stomach, intestine, and colon. RNA blot study showed that there is no detectable expression of the kinase mRNA in the thymus gland. In heart and skeletal muscle, the kinase protein is expressed in atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes and a subpopulation of skeletal myofibres. In skeletal muscle, fast myosin heavy chain co-localization studies demonstrated that the sarcomeric mitochondrial creatine kinase is highly expressed in type 1, slow-oxidative and type 2A, fast-oxidative-glycolytic myofibres. We conclude that the kinase gene is abundantly expressed in oxidative myocytes of heart and skeletal muscle and may contribute to oxidative capacity of these cells.