Association of ventricular myosin heavy chains in functional states which lead to isoenzyme populations encompassing the whole range of possible distribution.

A statistical model is presented which describes quantitatively the distribution of ventricular myosin (VM) isoenzymes VM-1, VM-2 and VM-3. In order to account for the actual distribution of the isoenzymes, it was assumed that the probability for formation of the heterodimer VM-2 (alpha- and beta-heavy chain) is lower than that of the homodimers VM-1 (2 alpha-heavy chains) or VM-3 (2 beta-heavy chains). The relation VM-2 = 0.85 (VM-1 X VM-3)0.5 describes quantitatively the proportion of the 3 isoenzymes in a given population. The model was established for 252 sedentary normotensive Wistar rats and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) fed ad libitum. It is demonstrated that the isoenzyme populations of rats subjected to 8 weeks experimental routines involving intermittent feeding (1 day feeding ad libitum, followed by 1 or 2 days fasting) or swimming also obey this theoretical distribution. Intermittent feeding led to an increased proportion of VM-3 in Wistar rats and SHR, whereby the latter approached the limits of the possible distribution. Intermittent swimming resulted in an increased proportion of VM-1 which was independent of the feeding schedule in SHR. In Wistar rats, however, the swimming rats fed intermittently exhibited a significantly smaller proportion of VM-1. By combining certain experimental routines, it is thus possible to induce within 8 weeks an isoenzyme population of a predefined composition, nearly within the whole range of possible distribution.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)