Enhanced Activity of the Purine Nucleotide Cycle of the Exercising Muscle in Patients with Hyperthyroidism

Myopathy frequently develops in patients with hyperthyroidism, but its precise mechanism is not clearly understood. In this study we focused on the purine nucleotide cycle, which contributes to ATP balance in skeletal muscles. To investigate purine metabolism in muscles, we measured metabolites related to the purine nucleotide cycle using the semiischemic forearm test. We examined the following four groups: patients with untreated thyrotoxic Graves' disease (untreated group), patients with Graves' disease treated with methimazole (treated group), patients in remission (remission group), and healthy volunteers (control group). To trace the glycolytic process, we measured glycolytic metabolites (lactate and pyruvate) as well as purine metabolites (ammonia and hypoxanthine). In the untreated group, the levels of lactate, pyruvate, and ammonia released were remarkably higher than those in the control group. Hypoxanthine release also increased in the untreated group, but the difference among the patient groups was not statistically significant. The accelerated purine catabolism did not improve after 3 months of treatment with methimazole, but it was completely normalized in the remission group. This indicated that long-term maintenance of thyroid function was necessary for purine catabolism to recover. We presume that an unbalanced ATP supply or conversion of muscle fiber type may account for the acceleration of the purine nucleotide cycle under thyrotoxicosis. Such acceleration of the purine nucleotide cycle is thought to be in part a protective mechanism against a rapid collapse of the ATP energy balance in exercising muscles of patients with hyperthyroidism.