A requirement for glucose by excised working rat diaphragm

¹ Naval Medical Research Institute, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland

Diaphragm will contract vigorously in vitro for several hours if glucose is present in the medium. In the absence of glucose contracting diaphragm becomes fatigued. Short-chain fatty acids, ß hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate could not be substituted for glucose to maintain working diaphragm. There is no significant change in the endogenous fatty acids of diaphragm at the end of a period of work. Glycogen synthesis and degradation appear to have no consistent role in the metabolic events occurring during active work.