Myoglobin function in exercising skeletal muscle.

Short-term perfusion of the isolated dog gastrocnemius-plantaris muscle with hydrogen peroxide resulted in a decrease in steady-state muscle oxygen consumption and isometric tension generation. Hydrogen peroxide converted intracellular myoglobin to products incapable of combination with oxygen, but had no deleterious effect on neuromuscular transmission or on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation. It is concluded that functional intracellular myoglobin is important in maintaining oxygen consumption and tension generation in exercising skeletal muscle.