Heterogeneity in regard to enzymes and metabolites within individual muscle fibers.

The possibility of variability along individual rat and human muscle fibers was assessed for four enzymes and four substances responsive to stimulation. Heterogeneity was determined by the differences between ends of fiber segments several millimeters long and by fluctuations in successive samples along the entire length of such segments. Among the enzymes, a cytosolic enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase, varied the least: average coefficient of variation (CV) of 5%. This is only a little greater than the analytic error. On the other hand, the CV for a mitochondrial enzyme, fumarase, was 13%. A mixed cytosolic-mitochondrial enzyme, malate dehydrogenase, was intermediate (CV of 9%). The CV for glycogen phosphorylase, which is normally bound to glycogen particles, was 34% along one fiber segment. Among the nonenzyme components, average CVs in stimulated fibers were 34, 20, 7, and 7%, respectively, for glucose 6-phosphate, phosphocreatine, ATP, and malate. Major differences were not random but developed gradually over distances of 0.5-2 mm along the fibers, and in some cases significant correlations between enzyme and metabolite levels were demonstrable.