Basic Medical Science Research Institute of China’s Academy of Medical Science
Qi Baoshen Cai Yingnian
DongdanParkInstructionCenter of Beijing Zhineng Qigong Branch
Wang Xinming Guo Honglin Xue Shuqin
Abstract
In this article, what is emphatically studied and compared is Zhineng Qigong’s effect on increasing the activity level of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the myocardial of mice that are in normal condition and in the action of swimming. It is found that Zhineng Qigong can indeed enhance the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the mice’s cardiac muscle myofibril. The two batches of experiments we have conducted are rather identical in result: The activities of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the mice’s cardiac muscle myofibril in the qigong group (qigong control group, qigong swimming group in normal oxygen and qigong swimming group in hypoxia) are evidently higher than that of the normal control group. Under the effect of Zhineng Qigong external qi, the activity level of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the hypoxia swimming group and in the normal-oxygen swimming group is higher than that of the qigong control group. The increase in the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the qigong hypoxia group is even more remarkable. This indicates that, when the mice are trained in swimming under the effect of Zhineng Qigong external qi, the increase in the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in their cardiac muscle myofibril is more evident. No evident difference has been found in the change of the albumen content in the cardiac muscle myofibril. It has been reported that the enhancement of the activity of enzyme ATP of the myocardial myoglobulin is an important foundation for the strengthening of the systole of cardiac muscles.
Key Words
Zhineng Gong, enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP, cardiac muscle myofibril
Preface
Experiments in recent years have shown that training athletes on plateau can markedly improve swimmers’ as well as middle-distance and long-distance runners’ sports achievements. However, research into this mechanism has been rather rarely reported both home and abroad. Our research together with other scholars’ research shows that appropriate hypoxia stimulation can bring about positive changing force effect, which promotes the systolic function of cardiac muscles. Thus we deem that the positive effect of a certain amount of hypoxia stimulation on plateau on the athletes’ myocardial systole is probably the critical factor for improving sportsmen’s athletic abilities. We have taken into consideration that the improvement in athletic achievement is decided by athletic physical speed and strength, both of which are closely related to the activity of enzyme ATP of the myofibril in the myocardial cells. It has already been reported that the enhancement of the activity of enzyme ATP in the myoglobulin is the important foundation for the strengthening of the systole of cardiac muscles. Therefore, we establish the model of mice swimming in the condition of hypoxia. We have emphatically studied and compared the changes that have taken place in the activity level of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the cardiac muscle myofibril of the mice that swim in hypoxia and the mice that swim in normal oxygen.
The effect of Zhineng Qigong on building up health has been broadly proved with a large number of experiments. Research into its mechanism is also growing. Can Zhineng Qigong improve the activity level of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in mice’s myocardial myofibril? Exploration of this is made and is reported in this article.
Material and Method in the Experiment
Material: Healthy male mice, 20g to 30g in weight, randomly divided into normal control group (C), qigong control group (Q), qigong swimming group in normal oxygen (N) and qigong swimming group in hypoxia (H).
Method:
Groups C, Q, N: The mice swim with a load (weight of mouse×5%) in our self-made swimming boxes (temperature of water: 300C to 320C), two hours each day for altogether seven days.
Group H: The mice swim in a low-pressure cabin that simulates the air condition at the altitude of 3000m, with the other condition control the same as that in Group N.
The three qigong groups live in a condition that qigong masters organize the qi field for them and transmit qi to them.
On the day when this seven-day period is over, cut off the heads of the mice, swiftly take out their hearts. Make and prepare myofibril by referring to Solaro and Pagani methods. Coomassie brilliant blue staining method is adopted for the concentration of albumen(CMP). Albumen in bovine serum is taken as the standard of measurement, the unit of which is μg (albumen) /mg (myocardium). Take 0.1ml to 0.2ml of cardiac muscle myofibril and add it into the reaction system (mmol/l: KCL60, imidazole30, Mg2+7.5, EGTA1.0 and free Ca2+, 5Nammol/l2ATP), with the general volume at 1ml. Incubate and vibrate it for ten minutes and add 1ml10% tetra acetic acid to stop the reaction. Measure the content of inorganic phosphorus with hydrolysis phosphate radical method. The unit of the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP (CMA) of myocardial myofibril is nmol.Pi/mg.pro/min.
Result
The result of the two experiments show that the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the mice’s cardiac muscle myofibril in the three qigong groups (ie., qigong control group, qigong swimming group in normal oxygen and qigong swimming group in hypoxia) is evidently higher than that in the normal control group (Group C). This shows that Zhineng qigong can truly enhance the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in mice’s cardiac muscle myofibril. With the effect of Zhineng Qigong external qi, the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the swimming group of hypoxia and in the swimming group of normal oxygen is higher than that in the qigong control group; the improvement in the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the qigong hypoxia swimming group is even more evident, which indicates that the mice, being trained in their swimming under the effect of Zhineng Qigong external qi, can more evidently increase the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in their cardiac muscle myofibril. The change in the content of the myoglobulin does not show evident difference.
|
Experiment Group n CMP(ug/mg) CMA(nmolpi/mgpro/min) |
|
One C 10 1.266±0.203 403.5±21.9 Q 10 1.357±0.087 460.3±30.5* N 10 1.296±0.084 556.0±46.4*# H 10 1.353±0.085 648.1±26.8*# |
|
Two C 10 1.387±0.118 342.2±28.4 Q 10 1.394±0.120 394.7±36.6* N 10 1.411±0.064 476.8±29.7*# H 10 1.615±0.159 488.2±54.7* |
*Compared with Group C: P＜0.001
#Compared between Groups: P＜0.001
Discussion
The result of this experiment shows that Zhineng Qigong does enhance the activity of enzyme Ca2+-Mg2+-ATP in the cardiac muscle myofibril of mice. The level of enzyme ATP’s activity is closely related to the systole of myocardial cells. Studies in the past have shown that the speed of the systole of myocardial cells is controlled by the activity of enzyme ATP in myoglobulin，and the enhancement of the activity of enzyme ATP in myocardial myoglobulin is an important foundation for enhancing myocardial systole. Therefore, it can be deemed that Zhineng Qigong, through improving enzyme ATP’s activity in myocardial cells, improves the contractility of the cardiac muscles and increases the stroke volume in order to satisfy the increase in the amount of oxygen that is consumed in the human body and consequently enhances the organic body’s adaptive capacity.
It should be pointed out that, in the experiments we did in the past, the increase in enzyme ATP’s activity in the myocardial cells of mice that swam only in the normal-oxygen condition was not evident. It was only the mice that swam in the hypoxia condition that showed evident increase in their myocardial cell’s ATP activity above the level of the control group. In this experiment, the mice are trained in swimming in Zhineng Qigong qi field. In addition to that the activity of enzyme ATP in the myocardial cells of the swimming mice trained in hypoxia keeps at a high level, the mice swimming in normal oxygen also indicates evident rise in their level of enzyme ATP’s activity in comparison with that of the control group. This shows that Zhineng Qigong is helpful in enhancing the adaptability of myocardial cells and in increasing the compensatory ability of cardiac muscles. These results will probably be of some guiding significance in giving scientific training and in exploring the mechanism of qigong effect.