scholarly journals Liver intracellular L-cysteine concentration is maintained after inhibition of the trans-sulfuration pathway by propargylglycine in rats

1997 ◽  
Vol 78 (5) ◽  
pp. 823-831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Triguero ◽  
Teresa Barber ◽  
Concha GarcÍa ◽  
Inmaculada R. Puertes ◽  
Juan Sastre ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Protein Degradation ◽  
Histological Examination ◽  
Blood Concentration ◽  
Urea Cycle ◽  
Blood Levels ◽  
Liver And Kidney ◽  
Amino Acid Homeostasis ◽  
Stimulation Of

To study the fate of l-cysteine and amino acid homeostasis in liver after the inhibition of the trans-sulfuration pathway, rats were treated with propargylglycine (PPG). At 4 h after the administration of PPG, liver cystathionase (EC 4.4.1.1) activity was undetectable, l-cystathionine levels were significantly higher, l-cysteine was unchanged and GSH concentration was significantly lower than values found in livers from control rats injected intraperitoneally with 0.15 M-NaCl. The hepatic levels of amino acids that are intermediates of the urea cycle, l-ornithine, l-citrulline and l-arginine and blood urea were significantly greater. Urea excretion was also higher in PPG-treated rats when compared with control rats. These data suggest a stimulation of ureagenesis in PPG-treated rats. The inhibition of γ-cystathionase was reflected in the blood levels of amino acids, because the L-methionine: l-cyst(e)ine ratio was significantly higher in PPG-treated rats than in control rats; blood concentration of cystathionine was also greater. Histological examination of liver and kidney showed no changes in PPG-treated rats when compared with controls. The administration of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to PPG-treated rats reversed the changes in blood urea and in liver GSH. These data suggest that when liver l-cysteine production was impaired by the blockage of the trans-sulfuration pathway, the concentration of this amino acid was maintained mainly by an increase in protein degradation and by a depletion in GSH concentration that may spare l-cysteine.

Effect of free fatty acids on blood amino acid levels in human

1986 ◽  
Vol 250 (6) ◽  
pp. E686-E694 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Ferrannini ◽  
E. J. Barrett ◽  
S. Bevilacqua ◽  
R. Jacob ◽  
M. Walesky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Plasma Insulin ◽  
Plasma Free Fatty Acid ◽  
Blood Levels ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Lipid Infusion ◽  
Amino Acid Levels ◽  
Branched Chain

Raised plasma free fatty acid (FFA) levels effectively impede glucose uptake in vivo, thereby conserving plasma glucose and sparing glycogen. To test whether FFA have any effect on blood amino acid levels, we infused Intralipid plus heparin or saline into healthy volunteers under four different experimental conditions: A) overnight fast; B) euglycemic hyperinsulinemia (approximately 100 microU/ml); C) hyperglycemic (approximately 200 mg/100 ml) hyperinsulinemia (approximately 50 microU/ml); and D) hyperglycemic (approximately 300 mg/100 ml) normoinsulinemia (approximately 20 microU/ml). In the fasting state (A), lipid infusion was associated with lower blood levels of most amino acids, both branched chain and glucogenic. This effect, however, could not be ascribed to lipid infusion alone, because plasma insulin levels were also stimulated. The clamp studies (B, C, and D) allowed to assess the influence of lipid on blood amino acid levels at similar plasma insulin and glucose levels. It was thus observed that lipid infusion has a significant hypoaminoacidemic effect of its own under both euglycemic (B) and hyperglycemic (C) conditions; this effect involved many glucogenic amino acids (alanine, glycine, phenylalanine, serine, threonine, and cystine) but none of the branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine). In marked contrast, normoinsulinemic hyperglycemia (D), with or without lipid infusion, caused no change in the blood level of any measured amino acid. We conclude that lipid infusion has a hypoaminoacidemic action. We also suggest that this action is permitted by insulin and may involve specific metabolic interactions (e.g., reduced availability of glucose-derived pyruvate or glycerophosphate) as well as enhanced uptake by the liver.

Quantitative analysis of amino acid oxidation and related gluconeogenesis in humans

1992 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 419-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. L. Jungas ◽  
M. L. Halperin ◽  
J. T. Brosnan
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Urea Cycle ◽  
Liver Mitochondria ◽  
Carbon Flow ◽  
Acid Oxidation ◽  
Peripheral Tissues ◽  
Amino Acid Oxidation ◽  
Atp Production ◽  
Acid Load

Significant gaps remain in our knowledge of the pathways of amino acid catabolism in humans. Further quantitative data describing amino acid metabolism in the kidney are especially needed as are further details concerning the pathways utilized for certain amino acids in liver. Sufficient data do exist to allow a broad picture of the overall process of amino acid oxidation to be developed along with approximate quantitative assessments of the role played by liver, muscle, kidney, and small intestine. Our analysis indicates that amino acids are the major fuel of liver, i.e., their oxidative conversion to glucose accounts for about one-half of the daily oxygen consumption of the liver, and no other fuel contributes nearly so importantly. The daily supply of amino acids provided in the diet cannot be totally oxidized to CO2 in the liver because such a process would provide far more ATP than the liver could utilize. Instead, most amino acids are oxidatively converted to glucose. This results in an overall ATP production during amino acid oxidation very nearly equal to the ATP required to convert amino acid carbon to glucose. Thus gluconeogenesis occurs without either a need for ATP from other fuels or an excessive ATP production that could limit the maximal rate of the process. The net effect of the oxidation of amino acids to glucose in the liver is to make nearly two-thirds of the total energy available from the oxidation of amino acids accessible to peripheral tissues, without necessitating that peripheral tissues synthesize the complex array of enzymes needed to support direct amino acid oxidation. As a balanced mixture of amino acids is oxidized in the liver, nearly all carbon from glucogenic amino acids flows into the mitochondrial aspartate pool and is actively transported out of the mitochondria via the aspartate-glutamate antiport linked to proton entry. In the cytoplasm the aspartate is converted to fumarate utilizing urea cycle enzymes; the fumarate flows via oxaloacetate to PEP and on to glucose. Thus carbon flow through the urea cycle is normally interlinked with gluconeogenic carbon flow because these metabolic pathways share a common step. Liver mitochondria experience a severe nonvolatile acid load during amino acid oxidation. It is suggested that this acid load is alleviated mainly by the respiratory chain proton pump in a form of uncoupled respiration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Effects of flooding amino acids on incorporation of labeled amino acids into human muscle protein

1998 ◽  
Vol 275 (1) ◽  
pp. E73-E78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Smith ◽  
Nigel Reynolds ◽  
Shaun Downie ◽  
Ayyub Patel ◽  
Michael J. Rennie
Keyword(s):  
Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Large Dose ◽  
Human Skeletal Muscle ◽  
Muscle Protein ◽  
Human Muscle ◽  
Leucine Incorporation ◽  
Nonessential Amino Acids ◽  
Stimulation Of

We investigated the effects of the nature of the flooding amino acid on the rate of incorporation of tracer leucine into human skeletal muscle sampled by biopsy. Twenty-three healthy young men (24.5 ± 5.0 yr, 76.2 ± 8.3 kg) were studied in groups of four or five. First, the effects of flooding with phenylalanine, threonine, or arginine (all at 0.05 g/kg body wt) on the incorporation of tracer [13C]leucine were studied. Then the effects of flooding with labeled [13C]glycine [0.1 g/kg body wt, 20 atoms percent excess (APE)] and [13C]serine (0.05 g/kg body wt, 15 APE) on the incorporation of simultaneously infused [13C]leucine were investigated. When a large dose of phenylalanine or threonine was administered, incorporation of the tracer leucine was significantly increased (from 0.036 to 0.067 %/h and 0.037 to 0.070 %/h, respectively; each P < 0.01). However, when arginine, glycine, or serine was administered as a flooding dose, no stimulation of tracer leucine incorporation could be observed. These results, together with those previously obtained, suggest that large doses of individual essential, but not nonessential, amino acids are able to stimulate incorporation of constantly infused tracer amino acids into human muscle protein.

scholarly journals Amino acid requirement for the growth-hormone stimulation of incorporation of precursors into protein and nucleic acids of liver slices

1970 ◽  
Vol 119 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Clemens ◽  
A. Korner
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Growth Hormone ◽  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Mechanism Of Action ◽  
Plasma Concentrations ◽  
Liver Slices ◽  
Hypophysectomized Rats ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. Incorporation of [14C]leucine into protein in rat liver slices, incubated in vitro, increased as the concentration of unlabelled amino acids in the incubation medium was raised. A plateau of incorporation was reached when the amino acid concentration was 6 times that present in rat plasma. Labelling of RNA by [3H]orotic acid was not stimulated by increased amino acid concentration in the incubation medium. 2. When amino acids were absent from the medium, or present at the normal plasma concentrations, no effect of added growth hormone on labelling of protein or RNA by precursor was observed. 3. When amino acids were present in the medium at 6 times the normal plasma concentrations addition of growth hormone stimulated incorporation of the appropriate labelled precursor into protein of liver slices from normal rats by 31%, and into RNA by 22%. A significant effect was seen at a hormone concentration as low as 10ng/ml. 4. Under the same conditions addition of growth hormone also stimulated protein labelling in liver slices from hypophysectomized rats. Tissue from hypophysectomized rats previously treated with growth hormone did not respond to growth hormone in vitro. 5. No effect of the hormone on the rate or extent of uptake of radioactive precursors into acid-soluble pools was found. 6. Cycloheximide completely abolished the hormone-induced increment in labelling of both RNA and protein. 7. It was concluded that, in the presence of an abundant amino acid supply, growth hormone can stimulate the synthesis of protein in rat liver slices by a mechanism that is more sensitive to cycloheximide than is the basal protein synthesis. The stimulation of RNA labelling observed in the presence of growth hormone may be a secondary consequence of the hormonal effect on protein synthesis. 8. The mechanism of action of growth hormone on liver protein synthesis in vitro was concluded to be similar to its mechanism of action in vivo.

The Gcn2–eIF2α pathway connects iron and amino acid homeostasis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

2018 ◽  
Vol 475 (8) ◽  
pp. 1523-1534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Caballero-Molada ◽  
María D. Planes ◽  
Helena Benlloch ◽  
Sergio Atares ◽  
Miguel A. Naranjo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Iron Content ◽  
Amino Acid Biosynthesis ◽  
Initiation Factor ◽  
Acid Biosynthesis ◽  
Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽  
Iron Sulfur ◽  
Amino Acid Homeostasis

In eukaryotic cells, amino acid biosynthesis is feedback-inhibited by amino acids through inhibition of the conserved protein kinase Gcn2. This decreases phosphorylation of initiation factor eIF2α, resulting in general activation of translation but inhibition of translation of mRNA for transcription factor (TF) Gcn4 in yeast or ATF4 in mammals. These TFs are positive regulators of amino acid biosynthetic genes. As several enzymes of amino acid biosynthesis contain iron–sulfur clusters (ISCs) and iron excess is toxic, iron and amino acid homeostasis should be co-ordinated. Working with the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we found that amino acid supplementation down-regulates expression of genes for iron uptake and decreases intracellular iron content. This cross-regulation requires Aft1, the major TF activated by iron scarcity, as well as Gcn2 and phosphorylatable eIF2α but not Gcn4. A mutant with constitutive activity of Gcn2 (GCN2c) shows less repression of iron transport genes by amino acids and increased nuclear localization of Aft1 in an iron-poor medium, and increases iron content in this medium. As Aft1 is activated by depletion of mitochondrial ISCs, it is plausible that the Gcn2–eIF2α pathway inhibits the formation of these complexes. Accordingly, the GCN2c mutant has strongly reduced activity of succinate dehydrogenase, an iron–sulfur mitochondrial enzyme, and is unable to grow in media with very low iron or with galactose instead of glucose, conditions where formation of ISCs is specially needed. This mechanism adjusts the uptake of iron to the needs of amino acid biosynthesis and expands the list of Gcn4-independent activities of the Gcn2–eIF2α regulatory system.

Meal stimulation of albumin synthesis: a significant contributor to whole body protein synthesis in humans

1992 ◽  
Vol 263 (4) ◽  
pp. E794-E799 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. De Feo ◽  
F. F. Horber ◽  
M. W. Haymond
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Combined Treatment ◽  
Essential Amino Acids ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Albumin Synthesis ◽  
Body Protein ◽  
Peripheral Tissues ◽  
Stimulation Of

The present studies were performed to test the hypothesis that the liver, by increasing the synthesis of specific plasma proteins during the absorption of an amino acid meal, may play an important role in the temporary "storage" of ingested essential amino acids and to explore the effects of glucocorticosteroids and recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) on these processes. The fractional synthetic rates of albumin and fibrinogen were determined using simultaneous infusions of intravenous [1-14C]leucine and intraduodenal [4,5-3H]leucine after 22 h fasting and during absorption of glucose and amino acids in four groups of normal subjects treated for 1 wk with placebo, prednisone (0.8 mg.kg-1.day-1), rhGH (0.1 mg.kg-1.day-1), or combined treatment. When compared with the fasted state and independent of the route of tracer delivery and hormonal treatment, albumin, but not fibrinogen, synthesis increased (P < 0.0001) during absorption of a mixed glucose amino acid meal in all groups. This increase in albumin synthesis accounted for 28% of the increase in whole body protein synthesis associated with feeding and for 24, 22, and 14% in the prednisone, rhGH, and combined treatment groups, respectively. These data suggest that the stimulation of albumin synthesis observed during feeding prevents irreversible oxidative losses of a significant fraction of ingested essential amino acids and may serve as a vehicle to capture excess dietary amino acids and transport them to peripheral tissues to sustain local protein synthesis.

scholarly journals Properties of cadmium-binding proteins in rat testes. Characteristics unlike metallothionein

1985 ◽  
Vol 231 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
J T Deagen ◽  
P D Whanger
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Amino Acid Analysis ◽  
Binding Proteins ◽  
Gel Filtration ◽  
Weanling Rats ◽  
Liver And Kidney ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Two Peaks ◽  
Dietary Cadmium

Since the exposure of rats to cadmium causes zinc to accumulate in metallothionein in liver and kidney but not in a similar protein in the testes, the properties of the low-Mr cadmium-binding proteins were investigated in rat testes. Weanling rats that had been given dietary cadmium for 6 weeks were injected with 109CdCl2 and subsequently killed, and the 109Cd-labelled low-Mr proteins from testes were purified. The pooled low-Mr cadmium-containing fractions from the gel-filtration (Sephadex G-75) columns were eluted through DEAE-Sephacel columns, yielding two peaks. Each of the individual peaks from this Sephacel column was further purified by rechromatography on DEAE-Sephacel and on Bio-Gel P-10 columns. Amino acid analysis of the two purified proteins revealed a low cysteine (about 3%) content, with aspartate, glutamate and glycine as the predominant amino acids. Thus these low-Mr cadmium-binding proteins induced by cadmium in rat testes do not appear to be metallothionein.

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