Modulation of Energy Transfer Pathways between Mitochondria and Myofibrils by Changes in Performance of Perfused Heart

In the heart, the energy supplied by mitochondria to myofibrils is continuously and finely tuned to the contraction requirement over a wide range of cardiac loads. This process is mediated both by the creatine kinase (CK) shuttle and by direct ATP transfer. The aim of this study was to identify the contribution of energy transfer pathways at different cardiac performance levels. For this, five protocols of 31P NMR inversion and saturation transfer experiments were performed at different performance levels on Langendorff perfused rat hearts. The cardiac performance was changed either through variation of external calcium in the presence or absence of isoprenaline or through variation of LV balloon inflation. The recordings were analyzed by mathematical models composed on the basis of different energy transfer pathway configurations. According to our results, the total CK unidirectional flux was relatively stable when the cardiac performance was changed by increasing the calcium concentration or variation of LV balloon volume. The stability of total CK unidirectional flux is lost at extreme energy demand levels leading to a rise in inorganic phosphate, a drop of ATP and phosphocreatine, a drop of total CK unidirectional flux, and to a bypass of CK shuttle by direct ATP transfer. Our results provide experimental evidence for the existence of two pathways of energy transfer, direct ATP transfer, and PCr transfer through the CK shuttle, whose contribution may vary depending on the metabolic status of the heart.