DEGRADATION OF MYOCARDIAL MYOSIN AND CREATINE-KINASE IN RATS GIVEN ALKALINE IONIZED WATER

Recently, the authors have shown that marked necrosis and fibrosis of myocardium were observed in rats given alkaline ionized water (AKW). T o clarify the cause of myocardial lesions, the activities of myosin AT Pase, actomyosin ATPase and creatine kinase (CK) in myocardium of rats given AKW at 15 weeks-old were compared with those in myocardium of r ats given tap water (TPW). Furthermore, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacr ylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) of myocardiac myosin and isoele ctric focusing (IEF) of myocardiac CK were performed which revealed a distinct difference between AKW and TPW groups. The activities of myos in ATPase and actomyosin ATPase in the AKW group were higher than thos e in the TPW group, and these elevated activities were caused by the d egradation of myosin in the AKW group judging from the SDS-PAGE patter n of myosin. On the other hand, the activity of CK in the AKW group wa s lower than that in the TPW group, and the IEF pattern of CK showed l eakage of myocardiac CK. These results indicate that increases in acto myosin ATPase activity and myosin ATPase activity, plus the decrease i n CK activity caused the disorder of coupled reaction in male rats giv en AKW at 15 weeks-old. It is concluded that this disorder of coupled reaction may cause marked myocardiac necrosis and fibrosis in rats giv en AKW.