title: Succinate and alanine as anaerobic end-products in the diving turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii).
abstract: The western painted turtle is an extremely anoxia-tolerant vertebrate capable of tolerating blood lactate levels of 150-200 mM. Since lactate increases to such high levels, other fermentation end-products such as succinate and alanine, which have not been previously measured in this species, might also be expected to increase. Therefore, I measured turtle heart, liver, and blood concentrations of lactate, succinate, and alanine following a 28-day anoxic dive at 5 degrees C. Succinate and lactate concentrations increased significantly in all three compartments while alanine increased significantly in the liver only. Lactate was found to accumulate by a similar amount in all three compartments (66.4-80.5 micromol g or ml(-1) in the blood compartment) and was used as a reference to which alanine and succinate concentrations could be compared. Succinate and alanine levels increased by 2 and 0.9% of lactate in liver, approximately 0.3 and 0.04% of lactate in blood, and 0.6 and 0.07% of lactate in heart, respectively. The contribution of each to the total anoxic heat production was calculated and accounted for an additional 1.5% of the previously measured exothermic gap. I conclude that succinate and alanine concentrations do increase in the anoxic turtle but are minor anaerobic end-products.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Ont., Canada. buckl@zoo.utoronto.ca
authors.forename: L T
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Buck
mesh_terms: D000409:Alanine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000693:Anaerobiosis; D000818:Animals; D013386:Succinates / Q000378:metabolism*; D014426:Turtles / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D013386:Succinates; D000409:Alanine