THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LACTATE, MITOCHONDRIA, AND PEROXISOMES IN HUMAN SKELETAL MUSCLE

Abstract

Human metabolism is a complex mechanism involving many interdependent parts. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship or lack thereof between lactate, mitochondria, and peroxisomes in human skeletal muscle. We accomplished this purpose by analyzing the skeletal muscle tissue of forty-four pre-menopausal women, in order to evaluate their levels of lactate, mitochondria, and peroxisomes. Through Western Blot analysis, we found that subjects with diabetes possessed much higher levels of PEX19, a peroxisomal protein. COX IV, a mitochondrial protein, was also found to be elevated in lean subjects. Lastly, lactate and PEX19 also seemed to interact in the subjects, as patients with higher lactate levels also possessed higher levels of PEX19. Through this data we can see that there is a clearly a relationship between the mitochondria, peroxisome, and lactate, which still needs to be further explored by more research.