scholarly journals Nutritional aspects of amino acid metabolism

1972 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Bloxam

1. Concentrations of the amino acids in the plasma of blood from the portal vein and hepatic vein and in the liver of fed rats and rats starved for 1 d or 3 d were measured. The 1 d values were compared with the equilibrium concentrations of the amino acids found in the perfusion medium during perfusion of livers from rats starved for 1 d.2. The measurements of portal–venous differences in amino acid concentrations confirmed the idea that postprandially and during starvation most of the amino acids flow from extrahepatic tissues to the liver but also showed that during starvation tryptophan, cystine, ornithine, valine, leucinc and isoleucine flow in the opposite direction, from liver to extrahepatic tissues.3. The blood levels of the non-essential amino acids fell markedly during starvation while those of the essential ones tended to be maintained. This contrasts with the pattern of changes known to take place in rats and man given low-protein diets. In the liver, changes in amino acid concentrations were generally related to those in the blood but not strictly parallel. The relative changes in amino acid concentrations in blood and liver indicate that as starvation progresses the concentrative ability of the liver is enhanced for most of the amino acids which are taken up and that the increased output of those which are released is also due to changed membrane transport.4. The changes in plasma amino acid concentrations in the blood passing through livers of rats starved for 1 d were, except for tryptophan and perhaps cystine, consistent with the extracellular changes found during perfusion of livers form rats straved for 1 d, indicating that the perfused liver influences concentrations of extracellular amino acids substantially as it does in vivo.5. The results suggest of mechanism wherby the liver may control the maintenance of the essential amino acids during starvation.

1976 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-230
Author(s):  
P. G. Lunn ◽  
R. G. Whitehead ◽  
B. A. Baker

1. Free amino acid concentrations in the plasma have been compared with those in liver and quadriceps muscle, in rats fed on diets containing 209 (control) and 31 (low-protein) g protein/kg. The effects of the low-protein diet on diurnal variations in these values were also measured.2. In the plasma, the total amino acid concentration was significantly lower in animals given the low-protein diet, at all times of day except 12.00 hours. In the liver, and to a lesser extent the muscle, total amino acid concentration was maintained.3. In the control animals, diurnal variation in the concentrations of both essential and non-essential amino acids was very similar in plasma, liver and muscle. In animals given the low-protein diet, although the same diurnal pattern was maintained for non-essential amino acids, that occurring among the essential amino acids had virtually disappeared.4. In plasma, the mean 24 h concentration of essential amino acids decreased from 24· mmol/l in control animals to only 1·29 mmol/l in the low-protein-fed animals. Concentrations in muscle and liver were reduced by a similar proportion (from 8·6 to 5·56 μmol/g and from 8·67 to 5·05 μmol/g respectively). Conversely the concentrations of non-essential amino acids in animals given the low-protein diet were increased in plasma (from 1·53 to 2·00 mmol/l), muscle (from 12·5 to 14·3 μmol/g), and liver (from 16·8 to 20·5 μmol/g), muscle showing the lowest increase.5. With the exceptions of lysine, threonine, cystine and tyrosine, the concentrations of all other essential amino acids were reduced more in liver than in muscle. The relationship between this and the failure to maintain plasma albumin concentrations is discussed.


1986 ◽  
Vol 250 (6) ◽  
pp. E686-E694 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Ferrannini ◽  
E. J. Barrett ◽  
S. Bevilacqua ◽  
R. Jacob ◽  
M. Walesky ◽  
...  

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.


2004 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Dahlman ◽  
J. Valaja ◽  
E. Venäläinen ◽  
T. Jalava ◽  
I. Pölönen

AbstractThe optimum pattern and limiting order of some essential amino acids for growing-furring blue foxes were assessed from nitrogen (N) retention responses. Total tract digestibility and N balance trials were carried out on 24 weaned blue fox males in an 8 ✕ 5 cyclic change-over experiment. Eight experimental diets were prepared by removing proportionately about 0·4 of each of the amino acids studied – methionine + cystine, lysine, threonine, tryptophan and histidine – successively from the amino acid control diet. The main source of protein in the amino acid control diet was casein and an amino acid mixture was added to bring the calculated crude protein (CP) content up to the level of 170 g/kg dry matter (DM). Low-protein (CP 95·7 g/kg DM) and high-protein (CP 166·6 g/kg DM) diets, the protein proportion of which was casein protein, served as negative and positive control diets, respectively. The reduction in N retention when one amino acid in turn was deleted from the amino acid control diet was calculated, and a regression analysis was made between N retention and relative amino acid intake. Data on the animals’ intake of each limiting amino acid and those on the amino acid control diet were used. The optimum amino acid pattern, expressed relative to lysine = 100, proved to be: methionine + cystine 77, threonine 64, histidine 55 and tryptophan 22. The first-limiting amino acids were methionine + cystine. Blue fox responses (N retention, weight gain) to deletion of methionine + cystine from the diet were very severe and exceeded those to deletion of any other amino acid. Moreover, removing methionine + cystine from the diet significantly impaired the apparent digestibility of organic matter, reducing it to a level even lower than that of the low-protein diet. After methionine + cystine, the next-limiting amino acid in casein-based diets was threonine, followed by histidine and tryptophan. The results show the importance of verifying the sufficiency of dietary methionine + cystine in the practical feeding of blue foxes.


1974 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Linzell ◽  
T. B. Mepham

SummaryExperiments were performed on 3 lactating goats, in which mammary arterial plasma amino-acid concentrations were elevated by the infusion of a solution of essential amino-acids into the carotid artery supplying a transplanted mammary gland. In 2 experiments there were marked elevations in the arterial concentrations of most essential amino acids, but in one case only did this result in significantly increased uptake of amino acids by the gland, the arterio-venous difference being significantly correlated with arterial concentration for all except one amino acid. In the experiment in which increased amino-acid uptake was observed, infusion also resulted in a significantly increased milk yield and increased milk protein yield. The results are discussed in relation to data from other laboratories and lead to the suggestion that milk protein synthesis may be limited by the availability of either methionine or tryptophan.


1996 ◽  
Vol 271 (4) ◽  
pp. E733-E741 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Tessari ◽  
R. Barazzoni ◽  
M. Zanetti ◽  
M. Vettore ◽  
S. Normand ◽  
...  

Whether tracers of different essential amino acids yield the same estimates of body protein turnover is still uncertain. Therefore, we have simultaneously determined leucine (Leu; using [14C]Leu), phenylalanine (Phe; using [13C]Phe), and tyrosine (Tyr; using [2H2]Tyr) rates of appearance (Ra) from proteolysis (PD), as well as Leu and Phe disposal, into protein synthesis (PS) both before and after an anabolic stimulus in healthy volunteers. Protein anabolism was stimulated by insulin plus a branched-chain amino acid-enriched aromatic amino acid-deficient amino acid solution, which increased Leu (from 145 +/- 9 to 266 +/- 10 mumol/l) but decreased Phe (from 57 +/- 2 to 46 +/- 3) and Tyr (from 58.7 +/- 5.5 to 21.0 +/- 2.2) concentrations. Postabsorptive endogenous Leu Ra (2.04 +/- 0.12 mumol.kg-1.min-1), Phe Ra (0.66 +/- 0.03), and Tyr Ra (0.45 +/- 0.06), as well as rates of PS determined with the leucine (1.65 +/- 0.10 mumol.kg-1.min-1) and the phenylalanine tracer (0.57 +/- 0.03), agreed well with the known abundance of these amino acids in body protein(s). After insulin and amino acids, PD was suppressed (P < 0.001) using all tracers. However, although percent suppression of endogenous Leu Ra (-->1.49 +/- 0.10 mumol.kg-1.min-1, 26 +/- 5%) and Phe Ra (-->0.53 +/- 0.02 mumol.kg-1.min-1, -20 +/- 2%) were comparable, endogenous Tyr Ra was suppressed to a larger extent (-->0.23 +/- 0.02 mumol.kg-1.min-1, -46 +/- 3% P = 0.038). PS was stimulated using the Leu (+24 +/- 7%, P < 0.02) but not the Phe (+6 +/- 4%, not significant) data. We conclude that isotopes of different essential amino acid: provide comparable estimates of PD and PS in the postabsorptive state. However, their responses to an anabolic stimulus may differ, possibly depending on exogenous amino acid availability and/or the resulting plasma levels.


1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 409-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
José L. Venero ◽  
Antonio J. Herrera ◽  
Alberto Machado ◽  
Josefina Cano

The contents of dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) and their metabolites were measured in rat substantia nigra and corpus striatum following dietary changes, including restriction of protein content (low-protein diet; LPD) and the contents of several large neutral amino acids (isoleucine, leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan and valine) for 25 d. The LPD produced an increase in the concentration of tyrosine (TYR) in the two regions of the brain studied. This effect was also observed with all amino acid deficiencies studied except for valine in the substantia nigra, tryptophan in the striatum and phenylalanine in both regions. Likewise, the concentration of 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid (5-HIAA), the main metabolite of 5-HT, increased in the substantia nigra but not in the striatum after LPD, as well as with all the amino acid deficiencies studied, with the exception of tryptophan deficiency. In this case there was a dramatic effect on all components of the serotoninergic system, with decreases in the concentration of tryptophan (TRP; precursor), 5-HT and 5-HIAA. This behaviour clearly shows an interrelationship between precursor (TRP) availability and 5-HT synthesis and metabolism. With valine deficiency, dopaminergic and serotoninergic systems demonstrated opposite effects in the substantia nigra and the corpus striatum, and the behaviour of the two monoamines was also opposite within each structure. The significance of these changes is discussed.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Yan ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Jingwei Cao ◽  
Wencai Ding ◽  
Shi Yan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Intestinal microbiota and amino acids that are one of their metabolites play important roles in the mechanism of pathology of Parkinson's disease (PD). It has been reported that the level of amino acids in vivo participate in neurodegeneration by regulating adaptive immune response, while the current researches on alteration of amino acids in intestinal microbiota are still insufficient. Here, we evaluate the correlation between gut microbiota alterations and clinical parameters of PD, amino acid concentrations.Methods: Stool samples from PD and healthy controls were collected for microbiome and targeted metabolome analyses. Results: At the genus level, there was a greater abundance of Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group in PD patients with more severe motor symptoms. Metabonomics analysis showed that multiple fecal amino acid concentrations in PD patients were decreased. Moreover, the findings that by spearman analysis Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group associated with PD had a significantly negative correlation with phenylalanine (r = -0.488, P < 0.01), tyrosine (r = -0.541, P < 0.01) and isoleucine (r = -0.434, P < 0.01). Conclusions: Our results not only find Rikenellaceae_RC9_gut_group, a new pro-inflammatory genus of intestinal microbiota in PD, but also reveal that it's related to amino acids. These findings are beneficial to identifying microbial therapeutic targets for PD.


1973 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. A. SALEM ◽  
T. J. DEVLIN ◽  
J. R. INGALLS ◽  
G. D. PHILLIPS

The effects of a semipurified diet containing 0 (0% urea-N diet), 50 (39% urea-N diet), or 100% (76% urea-N diet) of added dietary nitrogen (N) as urea on the amino acid concentrations in ruminant tissues was investigated. Three rumen-fistulated bull calves averaging 240 kg were used in a latin square design. The calves were fed using a continuous feeder to provide 7 kg of feed daily. Each experimental period of the latin square was 40 days divided into four 10-day intervals. Liver samples were obtained on the 9th day of each 10-day interval and rumen epithelium and rumen microorganisms were obtained on the 10th day of each 10-day interval. Blood samples were collected on the 6th, 8th, and 10th day of each 10-day interval for the determination of plasma amino acid patterns as well as the amino acid concentrations in the tissues. Plasma amino acid patterns indicated that when the 76% urea-N diet was fed the levels of aspartic acid, citrulline, glutamic acid, glycine, and proline were increased. Most of the essential amino acids were decreased on the 76% urea-N diet as compared with the 0% urea-N diet. All amino acids of rumen microorganisms were increased on the 39% urea-N diet with the exception of arginine, lysine, and threonine, which decreased slightly or did not show any change. Most amino acids were lower on the 76% urea-N diet as compared with the 39% or 0% urea-N diets. All essential amino acids measured in the liver were reduced on the 76% urea-N diet. Cystine, glutamic acid, glycine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, tryptophan, and valine were also reduced on the 39% urea-N diet. In rumen epithelium, there was a reduction of the essential amino acids and an increase of the nonessential amino acids on the 76% urea-N diet.


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