Tissue Respiration of Musculature in Relation to Body Size

Abstract

QO2 of skeletal muscle of growing rats, from 10-384 g., shows only a small decline with increasing body size. QO2 of diaphragm shows a considerable decline, the slope of the regression line not being consistently altered in different media. QO2 of skeletal muscle of adult mice (25-30 g.) is similar to that of adult rats, while QO2 of the diaphragm of mice corresponds to that of rats of same body wts., and is almost twice the value for adult rats. The results are discussed with respect to the explanation of the decline of wt.-specific basal metabolic rate with increasing body size.