Metabolite concentrations in skeletal muscle of different aged rats submitted to hypoxia and pharmacological treatment with nicergoline

The energy metabolism of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles in young-adult, mature, and senescent rats was evaluated after 72 h of continuous exposure to normobaric hypoxia or normoxia, The effects of treatment with the alpha-adrenergic antagonist nicergoline were also investigated. In the gastrocnemius muscle we evaluated the concentrations of some significative metabolites involved in anaerobic glycolysis and the Krebs' cycle, free amino acids related to the Krebs' cycle, ammonia, some energy mediators, and the energy store creatine phosphate. In the soleus muscle a selection of these was evaluated. In both muscles aging was similarly characterized by a decrease in muscular creatine phosphate concentration, while the energy mediators and the energy charge potential remained unchanged. Singly, some gastrocnemius muscle metabolites showed linear changes in their concentrations with aging, while for the soleus muscle the only linear change regarded glucose-6-phosphate. Continuous normobaric hypoxia induced greater changes at the age of 4 and 24 months than at 12 months. Chronic treatment with nicergoline modified the influence of hypoxic conditions on muscle metabolites concentrations only in some cases, regardless of the age of the animals. Further investigations are necessary before any firm conclusions can be drawn about the pharmacological activity of nicergoline on hypoxia in aged rats. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.