THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LACTATE , MITOCHONDRIA , AND PEROXISOMES IN HUMAN SKELETAL MUSCLE

Human metabolism is a complex mechanism involving many interdependent parts. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship or lack thereof between lactate , mitochondria , and peroxisomes in human skeletal muscle. We accomplished this purpose by analyzing the skeletal muscle tissue of forty-four pre-menopausal women , in order to evaluate their levels of lactate , mitochondria , and peroxisomes. Through Western Blot analysis , we found that subjects with diabetes possessed much higher levels of PEX19 , a peroxisomal protein. COX IV , a mitochondrial protein , was also found to be elevated in lean subjects. Lastly , lactate and PEX19 also seemed to interact in the subjects , as patients with higher lactate levels also possessed higher levels of PEX19. Through this data we can see that there is a clearly a relationship between the mitochondria , peroxisome , and lactate , which still needs to be further explored by more research