Aging changes of succinate dehydrogenase and adenosine triphosphatase of myocardial cells in rat

Objective To study the regularities of succinate dehydrogenase (SDH)and adenosine triphosphatase(ATPase)in myocardial cells with aging.Methods Thirty male and healthy rats were divided into infant group(20～25d),young group(3～5month) and old group (13～15month). Routine frozen sections were made for SDH and ATPase staining. The activity of SDH was shown by Chayen staining and the mean optic density(MOD)was measured by image computer analyzer.Mg 2+ -ATPase staining was used to show ATPase and its activity was observed by semi-quantitative analysis. Results The MOD of SDH in young group was much higher than that in infant group(P0.01)and old group(P0.05).The MOD of old group was higher than that of infant group(P0.05). The activity of ATPase in young group was the highest,old group was higher and infant group was the lowest.Conclusions The activity of SDH and ATPase increases rapidly from infancy to youth and become lower after youth;the activity and distribution of ATPase are different in different parts of the heart.