Studies of the Thermodynamics, Physiological Role(s) and Intracellular Compartmentation of Phosphagen/Phosphokinase Reactions

肌肉是将化学能转换为 在收缩过程中转化为机械能-张力的发展。 给定肌肉收缩的力和速度越高， 所需的化学能越多， 维持这些收缩。 该项目的主要重点是 来观察肌肉中化学能的产生过程 来自一系列无脊椎动物。 结果将提供 关于肌肉中能量传导的基本信息， 一般，并将提供一些深入了解这些演变 在动物王国中的过程。 化学能来源于 两种来源于肌肉。 首先，燃料，如 碳水化合物和脂肪可以分解产生化学物质 能源 第二，肌肉中含有一种叫做磷酸盐的化学物质 其作为化学能的储存器。 正是这种 后一种化学能源是这一领域的重点 研究工作。 有许多不同种类的 以特定模式分布在 动物王国 关于其化学性质知之甚少。 大多数的磷酸盐。 然而，我们知道， 磷酸酶原用于为快速而有力的肌肉提供动力 宫缩 这些研究将调查生物化学 这些磷酸盐的性质，重点是它们是如何 在肌肉工作中使用。 近年来，它已成为 很明显，肌肉细胞的内部， 所有的细胞都由精细的小管网络组成， 细胞器和细胞膜。 传统的研究方法 化学能生产利用侵入性技术， 包括破坏这种复杂的细胞内结构。 为了避免这个问题，他计划使用核磁共振 或光谱学，一种让我们观察化学物质的方法， 在完整的活细胞中发生反应。 核磁共振技术已经 在基础研究以及 在临床环境中。 这些研究将扩大 我们对NMR方法适用性的了解 研究肌肉中化学能的产生。

Muscles are biological tranducers which convert chemical energy into mechanical energy-tension development during contraction. The higher the force and speed of contraction of a given muscle, the greater the amount of chemical energy that is needed to sustain these contractions. The major focus of this project is to look at the process of chemical energy production in muscles from a range of invertebrate species. The results will provide fundamental information about energy transduction in muscle, in general and will give some insight into the evolution of these processes in the animal kingdom. Chemical energy is derived from two sources in muscles. First of all, fuels such as carbohydrates and fats can be broken down yielding chemical energy. Secondly, muscles contain chemicals known as phosphagens which function as reservoirs of chemical energy. It is this latter source of chemical energy that is the focus of this research effort. There are a number of different kinds of phosphagens which are distributed in specific patterns in the animal kingdom. Little is known about the chemical properties of most of these phosphagens. However, we do know that these phosphagen are used to power rapid and forceful muscle contractions. These studies will investigate the biochemical properties of these phosphagens with an emphasis on how they are utilized during muscle work. In recent years, it has become apparent that the interior of muscle cells, and for that matter all cells, consists of an elaborate network of tubules, organelles and membranes. Traditional methods of study of chemical energy production utilize invasive techniques which involve destruction of this complex intracellular architecture. To avoid this problem, he plans to use nuclear magnetic resonance or spectroscopy, a method which allows us to observe chemical reactions in intact, living cells. NMR techniques have been shown to be extremely useful in basic research as well as in the context of the clinical environment. These studies will extend our knowledge concerning the applicability of NMR methods for the study of chemical energy production in muscles.