High aerobic capacities in the skeletal muscles of pinnipeds: adaptations to diving hypoxia

1 Department of Medicine, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92092-0623A; 2 Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Science, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas 77845; and 3 Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555-0588 The objective was to assess the aerobic capacity of skeletal muscles in pinnipeds. Samples of swimming and nonswimming muscles were collected from Steller sea lions ( Eumetopias jubatus , n = 27), Northern fur seals ( Callorhinus ursinus , n = 5), and harbor seals ( Phoca vitulina , n = 37) by using a needle biopsy technique. Samples were either immediately fixed in 2% glutaraldehyde or frozen in liquid nitrogen. The volume density of mitochondria, myoglobin concentration, citrate synthase activity, and -hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase was determined for all samples. The swimming muscles of seals had an average total mitochondrial volume density per volume of fiber of 9.7%. The swimming muscles of sea lions and fur seals had average mitochondrial volume densities of 6.2 and 8.8%, respectively. These values were 1.7- to 2.0-fold greater than in the nonswimming muscles. Myoglobin concentration, citrate synthase activity, and -hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase were 1.1- to 2.3-fold greater in the swimming vs. nonswimming muscles. The swimming muscles of pinnipeds appear to be adapted for aerobic lipid metabolism under the hypoxic conditions that occur during diving. mitochondria; citrate synthase; -hydroxyacyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase; myoglobin