Physiological constraints on changes in pH and phosphorus metabolite concentrations in ischemically exercising muscle: implications for metabolic control and for the interpretation of 31P-magnetic resonance spectroscopic studies.

Relationships between pH and the concentrations of phosphocreatine (PCr), inorganic phosphate (Pi), and lactate during ischemic exercise depend on passive buffering, proton consumption as a consequence of net PCr breakdown, the control of glycogenolysis, (particularly in relation to the concentration of Pi, a substrate of glycogen phosphorylase that is produced by net PCr breakdown), and the creatine kinase equilibrium. The author analyzes the implications of these relationships for the interpretation of 31P-magnetic resonance spectroscopic data and for the control of glycogenolysis. For realistic adenosine diphosphate (ADP) concentrations, given the constraints of the creatine kinase equilibrium, the pH must be near-linear with lactate, with an apparent buffer capacity (i.e., the ratio of lactate accumulation to pH change) that is nearly twice the true buffer capacity (i.e., the ratio of net proton loading to pH change). The implications for glycogenolytic control depend on adenosine triphosphate (ATP) turnover, but an upper limit of activation of glycogen phosphorylase (i.e., the amount of the a form) that would permit no increase in ADP concentration can be calculated. Phosphorylase activation during ischemic exercise seems approximately proportional to the power output, consistent with calcium stimulation of phosphorylase b kinase. In simulations, ADP concentration is highly sensitive to this proportionality, as (unlike in purely oxidative exercise) ADP concentration is not known to participate in any closed feedback loops in ischemic exercise.