Abstract
ABSTRACTThe plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is a species of sprint-running alpine animals in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is a harsh highland hypoxic environment. Ldh-c is expressed in the testis, sperm and somatic tissues of plateau pika. To reveal the role and physiological mechanisms of sperm-specific lactate dehydrogenase (LDH-C4), in plateau pika to adapt to hypoxic environment, an adenoviral line of pMultiRNAi-Ldhc was constructed and injected into the bilateral biceps femoris of the hind legs. The swimming times of the pikas, and the Ldh-c expression levels, total LDH activities and ATP levels in skeletal muscle, were measured after the pikas were raised in the trapped site for 5 days. Our results showed that after Ldh-c was silenced, the sprint-running ability (swimming time) of the plateau pikas was significant decreased, and the total LDH activities and ATP levels were reduced by 28.21% and 27.88%, respectively. Our results indicated that expression of Ldh-c in the skeletal muscle of plateau pika increased anaerobic glycolysis and enhanced adaptation to highland hypoxic environments.
Highlights
The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is an endemic species in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and iinhabits meadows at an altitude of 30005000 m
LDH-C4 is one of the members of the lactate dehydrogenase family, which catalyses the terminal reaction in the glycolytic pathway (Blanco and Zinkham, 1963; Goldberg, 1963)
We found that pika LDH-C4 had a lower Km for pyruvate (∼0.052 mmol/l) and a higher Km for lactate (∼4.934 mmol/l), and that it was beneficial to catalyse the conversion of pyruvate to lactate even at high concentrations of lactate endogenously (Wang et al, 2016)
Summary
The plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is an endemic species in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and iinhabits meadows at an altitude of 30005000 m. Over long-term evolution, the pika underwent a series of strategies for adaptation to the hypoxic environment physiologically and genomically (He et al, 1994; Wei et al, 2006; Wang et al, 2008ab; Zhu et al, 2009; Sun et al, 2013). Using a specific inhibitor (N-isopropyl oxamate) of sperm-specific. Received 20 February 2017; Accepted 15 June 2017 lactate dehydrogenase (LDH-C4), we demonstrated that LDH-C4 enhanced the pikas’ sprint-running capacity, which has an important role in adaption to highland hypoxic environment in plateau pika (Wang et al, 2015)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
