Effects of chronic hypoxia and dietary restriction on myocardial enzyme activities.

Enzyme activities were measured in homogenates of left and right ventricles of guinea pigs after 14 and 28 days' exposure to 400 mmHg barometric pressure. All animals developed anorexia and right ventricular hypertrophy. Two control groups of animals were used, one free fed and the other restricted to the amount of food chosen by the hypobaric group. The factorial design of the experiment allowed some distinction between the effects of anorexia, hypertrophy, and hypoxia. Dietary restriction was associated with a decrease in glycogen phosphorylase, hexokinase, and succinate dehydrogenase activity and an increase in the M-subunits of lactate dehydrogenase. Myocardial hypertrophy was associated with an increase in the activity of the enzymes of the glycolytic pathway down as far as phosphoglycerate kinase and an increase in the M-subunits of lactate dehydrogenase. Chronic hypoxia seemed specifically to be associated with an increase in the H-subunits of lactate dehydrogenase and possibly a slight transient increase in succinate dehydrogenase activity. Mixing studies indicated that changes in enzyme activities were likely to be due to changes in enzyme concentrations.