Changes in skeletal muscle glycogenolysis after prolonged cold exposure and repeated injections with isoproterenol

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Abstract
Wistar rats were either given daily injections of isoproterenol (ISO) (15 μg/100 g per day) or exposed to 6 °C for 4 or 12 weeks (cold acclimated (CA)). After a 4-week exposure to cold and to ISO, acute cold stress (4 h at –18 °C) produced a 48% depletion of glycogen in the tibialis anterior of control rats while it did not significantly affect the levels in ISO-treated and CA animals. ISO treatment enhanced the in vivo response of phosphorylase kinase and glycogen phosphorylase to epinephrine (EPI) in the tibialis anterior, a fast contracting muscle. In the soleus, a slow contracting muscle known to be more sensitive to catecholamines, chronic treatment with ISO also resulted in increased basal and EPI-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity. No evidence could be found for an alteration of the glycogenolytic pathway (adenylate cyclase system, phosphorylase kinase, and glycogen phosphorylase) in fast contracting skeletal muscles of CA rats. It is concluded that ISO-treated and CA rats, which have a great capacity for nonshivering thermogenesis, do not rely on their muscle carbohydrate reserves during cold stress. It might be suggested that plasma levels of catecholamines higher than those produced by exposure to 6 °C are required to alter glycogenolytic mechanisms in fast contracting rat skeletal muscles.