Mt. Thebault et al., P-31 NMR-STUDIES OF THE METABOLIC CHANGES IN THE PRAWNS PALAEMON SERRATUS AND P-ELEGANS DURING EXERCISE, Marine ecology. Progress series, 111(1-2), 1994, pp. 73-78
In vivo P-31 NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy) was used to
examine the changes in phosphometabolites in the abdominal muscle of
2 closely related prawns, Palaemon serratus and P. elegans, after exer
cise. Two types of exercise were produced by electrical stimulation: b
rief maximal exercise and exercise to exhaustion. ATP was extracted an
d analyzed by HPLC to calculate the absolute concentrations of metabol
ites measured by NMR. The main findings were: (1) At rest, P. serratus
had lower muscle concentrations of phosphoarginine, arginine and ATP
than P. elegans. (2) During exercise, the ATP concentration in P. serr
atus muscle decreased by 23% from that at the start of the exercise, w
hile that of P. elegans remained unchanged. (3) The patterns of post-e
xercise phosphometabolite recovery in the 2 species were similar. Thus
, P. elegans, which is more tolerant of environmental anaerobiosis, is
also more able to maintain its cellular energy state during bursts of
muscular activity.