Phosphagens, also known as macroergic compounds, are high energy storage compounds, also known as high-energy phosphate compounds, chiefly found in muscular tissue in animals. They allow a high-energy phosphate pool to be maintained in a concentration range, which, if it all were adenosine triphosphate (ATP), would create problems due to the ATP-consuming reactions in these tissues. As muscle tissues can have sudden demands for much energy, these compounds can maintain a reserve of high-energy phosphates that can be used as needed, to provide the energy that could not be immediately supplied by glycolysis or oxidative phosphorylation. Phosphagens supply immediate but limited energy.
H+ + ADP + CP → ATP + Creatine (Mg2+ assisted, catalyzed by creatine kinase, ATP is used again in the above reaction for continued muscle contraction)
2 ADP → ATP + AMP (catalyzed by adenylate kinase/myokinase when CP is depleted, ATP is again used for muscle contraction)Phosphagen System (ATP-PCr) and Purine Nucleotide Cycle (PNC)
Muscle at rest:
ATP + Creatine → ADP + CP + H+ (Mg2+ assisted, catalyzed by creatine kinase)
When the Phosphagen System has been depleted of phosphocreatine (creatine phosphate), the resulting AMP produced from the adenylate kinase (myokinase) reaction is primarily regulated by the Purine Nucleotide Cycle.[3][4]
References
^Selected Topics in the History of Biochemistry, G Semenza
^Wallimann T, Wyss M, Brdiczka D, Nicolay K, Eppenberger HM (January 1992). "Intracellular compartmentation, structure and function of creatine kinase isoenzymes in tissues with high and fluctuating energy demands: the 'phosphocreatine circuit' for cellular energy homeostasis". Biochem J. 281 (Pt 1): 21–40. doi:10.1042/bj2810021. PMC 1130636. PMID 1731757.
^Bhagavan, N.V.; Ha, Chung-Eun (2015). "19. Contractile Systems". Essentials of Medical Biochemistry. Elsevier. pp. 339–361. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-416687-5.00019-1. ISBN 978-0-12-416687-5.
^Valberg, Stephanie J. (2008), "15. Skeletal Muscle Function", in Kaneko, J. Jerry; Harvey, John W.; Bruss, Michael L. (eds.), Clinical Biochemistry of Domestic Animals (6th ed.), Academic Press, pp. 459–484, ISBN 978-0-12-370491-7, retrieved 2023-10-10
Further reading
Ellington, W Ross (2001). "Evolution and Physiological Roles of Phosphagen Systems". Annual Review of Physiology. 63 (1): 289–325. doi:10.1146/annurev.physiol.63.1.289. PMID 11181958.
Eggleton, Philip; Eggleton, Grace Palmer (1927). "The physiological significance of "phosphagen"". Journal of Physiology. 63 (2): 155–161. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.1927.sp002391. PMC 1514923. PMID 16993876.