Effects of branched-chain-enriched amino acids and insulin on forearm leucine kinetics

1999 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michela ZANETTI ◽  
Rocco BARAZZONI ◽  
Edward KIWANUKA ◽  
Paolo TESSARI

Although amino acid mixtures enriched in branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) and deficient in aromatic amino acids (AAA) are often used together with insulin and glucose in clinical nutrition, their physiological effects on muscle protein anabolism are not known. To this aim, we studied forearm leucine kinetics in post-absorptive volunteers, before and after the systemic infusion of BCAA-enriched, AAA-deficient amino acids along with insulin and the euglycaemic clamp. The results were compared with the effects of insulin infusion alone. A compartmental leucine forearm model was employed at steady state. Hyperaminoacidaemia with hyperinsulinaemia (to ≈ 80–100 μ-units/ml) increased the leucine plasma concentration (+70%; P< 0.001), inflow into the forearm cell (+150%; P< 0.01), disposal into protein synthesis (+100%; P< 0.01), net intracellular retention (P< 0.01), net forearm balance (by ≈ 6-fold; P< 0.01) and net deamination to α-ketoisocaproate (4-methyl-2-oxopentanoate) (+9%; P< 0.05). Leucine release from forearm proteolysis and outflow from the forearm cell were unchanged. In contrast, hyperinsulinaemia alone decreased plasma leucine concentrations (-35%; P< 0.001) and leucine inflow (-20%; P< 0.05) and outflow (-30%; P< 0.01) into and out of forearm cell(s), it increased net intracellular leucine retention (P< 0.03), and it did not change leucine release from forearm proteolysis (-20%; P = 0.138), net leucine deamination to α-ketoisocaproate, leucine disposal into protein synthesis or net forearm protein balance. By considering all data together, leucine disposal into protein synthesis was directly correlated with leucine inflow into the cell (r = 0.71; P< 0.0001). These data indicate that the infusion of BCAA-enriched, AAA-deficient amino acids along with insulin is capable of stimulating forearm (i.e. muscle) protein anabolism in normal volunteers by enhancing intracellular leucine transport and protein synthesis. These effects are probably due to hyperaminoacidaemia and/or its interaction with hyperinsulinaemia, since they were not observed under conditions of hyperinsulinaemia alone.

2001 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 1041-1047 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Parise ◽  
S. Mihic ◽  
D. MacLennan ◽  
K. E. Yarasheski ◽  
M. A. Tarnopolsky

Creatine monohydrate (CrM) supplementation during resistance exercise training results in a greater increase in strength and fat-free mass than placebo. Whether this is solely due to an increase in intracellular water or whether there may be alterations in protein turnover is not clear at this point. We examined the effects of CrM supplementation on indexes of protein metabolism in young healthy men ( n = 13) and women ( n = 14). Subjects were randomly allocated to CrM (20 g/day for 5 days followed by 5 g/day for 3–4 days) or placebo (glucose polymers) and tested before and after the supplementation period under rigorous dietary and exercise controls. Muscle phosphocreatine, creatine, and total creatine were measured before and after supplementation. A primed-continuous intravenous infusion of l-[1-13C]leucine and mass spectrometry were used to measure mixed-muscle protein fractional synthetic rate and indexes of whole body leucine metabolism (nonoxidative leucine disposal), leucine oxidation, and plasma leucine rate of appearance. CrM supplementation increased muscle total creatine (+13.1%, P < 0.05) with a trend toward an increase in phosphocreatine (+8.8%, P = 0.09). CrM supplementation did not increase muscle fractional synthetic rate but reduced leucine oxidation (−19.6%) and plasma leucine rate of appearance (−7.5%, P < 0.05) in men, but not in women. CrM did not increase total body mass or fat-free mass. We conclude that short-term CrM supplementation may have anticatabolic actions in some proteins (in men), but CrM does not increase whole body or mixed-muscle protein synthesis.


1988 ◽  
Vol 254 (2) ◽  
pp. 579-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
P J Garlick ◽  
I Grant

Rates of muscle protein synthesis were measured in vivo in tissues of post-absorptive young rats that were given intravenous infusions of various combinations of insulin and amino acids. In the absence of amino acid infusion, there was a steady rise in muscle protein synthesis with plasma insulin concentration up to 158 mu units/ml, but when a complete amino acids mixtures was included maximal rates were obtained at 20 mu units/ml. The effect of the complete mixture could be reproduced by a mixture of essential amino acids or of branched-chain amino acids, but not by a non-essential mixture, alanine, methionine or glutamine. It is concluded that amino acids, particularly the branched-chain ones, increase the sensitivity of muscle protein synthesis to insulin.


2017 ◽  
Vol 313 (3) ◽  
pp. F805-F814 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takuya Yoshida ◽  
Sachika Kakizawa ◽  
Yuri Totsuka ◽  
Miho Sugimoto ◽  
Shinji Miura ◽  
...  

A low-protein diet (LPD) protects against the progression of renal injury in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). However, LPD may accelerate muscle wasting in these patients. Both exercise and branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) are known to increase muscle protein synthesis by activating the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. The aim of this study was to investigate whether endurance exercise and BCAA play a role for increasing muscle protein synthesis in LPD-fed CKD (5/6 nephrectomized) rats. Both CKD and sham rats were pair-fed on LPD or LPD fortified with a BCAA diet (BD), and approximately one-half of the animals in each group was subjected to treadmill exercise (15 m/min, 1 h/day, 5 days/wk). After 7 wk, renal function was measured, and soleus muscles were collected to evaluate muscle protein synthesis. Renal function did not differ between LPD- and BD-fed CKD rats, and the treadmill exercise did not accelerate renal damage in either group. The treadmill exercise slightly increased the phosphorylation of p70s6 kinase, a marker of mTOR activity, in the soleus muscle of LPD-fed CKD rats compared with the sham group. Furthermore, BCAA supplementation of the LPD-fed, exercise-trained CKD rats restored the phosphorylation of p70s6 kinase to the same level observed in the sham group; however, the corresponding induced increase in muscle protein synthesis and muscle mass was marginal. These results indicate that the combination of treadmill exercise and BCAA stimulates cell signaling to promote muscle protein synthesis; however, the implications of this effect for muscle growth remain to be clarified.


2001 ◽  
Vol 281 (3) ◽  
pp. E466-E471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Greiwe ◽  
Guim Kwon ◽  
Michael L. McDaniel ◽  
Clay F. Semenkovich

Amino acids and insulin have anabolic effects in skeletal muscle, but the mechanisms are poorly understood. To test the hypothesis that leucine and insulin stimulate translation initiation in human skeletal muscle by phosphorylating 70-kDa ribosomal protein S6 kinase (p70S6k), we infused healthy adults with leucine alone ( n = 6), insulin alone ( n= 6), or both leucine and insulin ( n = 6) for 2 h. p70S6k and protein kinase B (PKB) serine473phosphorylation were measured in vastus lateralis muscles. Plasma leucine increased from ∼116 to 343 μmol/l during the leucine-alone and leucine + insulin infusions. Plasma insulin increased to ∼400 pmol/l during the insulin-alone and leucine + insulin infusions and was unchanged during the leucine-alone infusion. Phosphorylation of p70S6k increased 4-fold in response to leucine alone, 8-fold in response to insulin alone, and 18-fold after the leucine + insulin infusion. Insulin-alone and leucine + insulin infusions increased PKB phosphorylation, but leucine alone had no effect. These results show that physiological concentrations of leucine and insulin activate a key mediator of protein synthesis in human skeletal muscle. They suggest that leucine stimulates protein synthesis through a nutrient signaling mechanism independent of insulin, raising the possibility that administration of branched-chain amino acids may improve protein synthesis in insulin-resistant states.


1984 ◽  
Vol 246 (6) ◽  
pp. E510-E515
Author(s):  
M. G. Buse ◽  
I. R. Cheema ◽  
M. Owens ◽  
B. E. Ledford ◽  
R. A. Galbraith

Insulin and branched-chain amino acids are known to stimulate protein synthesis in skeletal muscle. Extracts prepared from rat diaphragms after incubation in balanced salt solution and glucose alone yielded heat- and acid-stable, TCA-precipitable, nondialyzable factor(s) that inhibit protein synthesis when added to rabbit reticulocyte lysates. Polyribosomal profiles of inhibited lysates were consistent with a defect in peptide-chain initiation. Addition of insulin and amino acids to the diaphragm incubation media partially removed the inhibition seen with the muscle extract and was accompanied by an increase in polysomes and decreased subunits. Similarly, extracts prepared from rat hindlimb muscle 48 h after induction of diabetes were much more inhibitory in rabbit reticulocyte lysates than extracts from control rats. Polyribosomal profiles were consistent with defective peptide-chain initiation. Trypsin treatment before assay abolished the inhibitory activity of muscle extracts from diabetic rats. Because translation-inhibiting peptide(s) appear to be under metabolic and/or hormonal control, their possible role in muscle protein homeostasis warrants further study.


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