Use of the constant infusion technique for measuring rates of protein synthesis in the New Zealand White rabbit

1977 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. A. Nicholas ◽  
G. E. Lobley ◽  
C. I. Harris

1.To study the potential of the constant-infusion technique for measuring rates of protein synthesis in New Zealand White rabbits, animals were infused for up to 6 h with radioactively-labelled tyrosine.2.Labelled tyrosine from plasma and tissues was isolated from labelled metabolites by ion-exchange chromatography.3.Analysis of serial blood and muscle biopsy samples removed under anaesthesia showed that the specific radioactivity (SR) of the free tyrosine pools reached an approximately constant value within 2 h.4.Certain commercial preparations of L-[side-chain 2,3-3H]tyrosine were contaminated with 300 mg radioactive D-tyrosine/g. The D-isomer appeared to enter the muscle intracellular pool.5.In constant-infusion experiments L-[3H]tyrosine could replace the uniformly-14C-labelled L-isomer for the determination of rates of protein synthesis in muscle. L-[side-chain 2,3-3H]tyrosine may not be suitable for use as a precursor for measuring rates of liver protein synthesis.6.Evidence is presented that the precursor of liver protein synthesis may not be well defined by the SR for free tyrosine of the homogenate.7.The technique was used to measure the rates of protein synthesis in adult rabbits. The rates of protein synthesis in liver and muscle were measured and from measurements of tyrosine flux the mean rate of whole-body protein synthesis was calculated as 13.8 g/kg per d.

1997 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. NEUTZE ◽  
J. M. GOODEN ◽  
V. H. ODDY

This study used an experimental model, described in a companion paper, to examine the effects of feed intake on protein turnover in the small intestine of lambs. Ten male castrate lambs (∼ 10 months old) were offered, via continuous feeders, either 400 (n = 5) or 1200 (n = 5) g/day lucerne chaff, and mean experimental liveweights were 28 and 33 kg respectively. All lambs were prepared with catheters in the cranial mesenteric vein (CMV), femoral artery (FA), jugular vein and abomasum, and a blood flow probe around the CMV. Cr-EDTA (0·139 mg Cr/ml, ∼ 0·2 ml/min) was infused abomasally for 24 h and L-[2,6-3H]phenylalanine (Phe) (420±9·35 μCi into the abomasum) and L-[U-14C]phenylalanine (49·6±3·59 μCi into the jugular vein) were also infused during the last 8 h. Blood from the CMV and FA was sampled during the isotope infusions. At the end of infusions, lambs were killed and tissue (n = 4) and digesta (n = 2) samples removed from the small intestine (SI) of each animal. Transfers of labelled and unlabelled Phe were measured between SI tissue, its lumen and blood, enabling both fractional and absolute rates of protein synthesis and gain to be estimated.Total SI mass increased significantly with feed intake (P < 0·05), although not on a liveweight basis. Fractional rates of protein gain in the SI tended to increase (P = 0·12) with feed intake; these rates were −16·2 (±13·7) and 23·3 (±15·2) % per day in lambs offered 400 and 1200 g/day respectively. Mean protein synthesis and fractional synthesis rates (FSR), calculated from the mean retention of 14C and 3H in SI tissue, were both positively affected by feed intake (0·01 < P < 0·05). The choice of free Phe pool for estimating precursor specific radioactivity (SRA) for protein synthesis had a major effect on FSR. Assuming that tissue free Phe SRA represented precursor SRA, mean FSR were 81 (±15) and 145 (±24) % per day in lambs offered 400 and 1200 g/day respectively. Corresponding estimates for free Phe SRA in the FA and CMV were 28 (±2·9) and 42 (±3·5) % per day on 400 g/day, and 61 (±2·9) and 94 (±6·0) on 1200 g/day. The correct value for protein synthesis was therefore in doubt, although indirect evidence suggested that blood SRA (either FA or CMV) may be closest to true precursor SRA. This evidence included (i) comparison with flooding dose estimates of FSR, (ii) comparison of 3H[ratio ]14C Phe SRA in free Phe pools with this ratio in SI protein, and (iii) the proportion of SI energy use associated with protein synthesis.Using the experimental model, the proportion of small intestinal protein synthesis exported was estimated as 0·13–0·27 (depending on the choice of precursor) and was unaffected by feed intake. The contribution of the small intestine to whole body protein synthesis tended to be higher in lambs offered 1200 g/day (0·21) than in those offered 400 g/day (0·13). The data obtained in this study suggested a role for the small intestine in modulating amino acid supply with changes in feed intake. At high intake (1200 g/day), the small intestine increases in mass and CMV uptake of amino acids is less than absorption from the lumen, while at low intake (400 g/day), this organ loses mass and CMV uptake of amino acids exceeds that absorbed. The implications of these findings are discussed.


1985 ◽  
Vol 226 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
J J Pomposelli ◽  
J D Palombo ◽  
K J Hamawy ◽  
B R Bistrian ◽  
G L Blackburn ◽  
...  

Previous studies have reported that use of a flooding dose of radiolabelled amino acid is a more precise technique than the constant infusion of tracer quantities for determining rates of protein synthesis in rapidly turning-over tissues in the rat. However, there has been little direct investigation comparing different methods under comparable conditions. Initially, 12 healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing approx. 100 g, were randomized to receive either a bolus intravenous injection of 100 mumol of L-leucine (containing 30 microCi of [1-14C]leucine)/100 g body wt., or a continuous 2 h tracer infusion of [14C]leucine. In the second phase of the experiment, 12 additional rats were intravenously injected with 1 × 10(8) colony-forming units of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 16 h later randomized to receive one of two infusions described above. Total protein synthesis as well as fractional synthesis rates were determined in liver, rectus muscle and whole body. Synthesis rates measured in liver, muscle and whole body were significantly higher in bacteraemic rats than in healthy rats. The flooding-dose methodology gave significantly higher estimates of protein synthesis in the liver, skeletal muscle and whole body than did the continuous-infusion method using direct measurement of the acid-soluble fraction from the respective tissue. Indirect estimates of whole-body protein synthesis based on plasma enrichments and stochastic modelling gave the lowest values.


1981 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-419 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Davis ◽  
T. N. Barry ◽  
G. A. Hughson

1. The fractional rate of protein synthesis (FSR) in tissues of nine growing lambs (4–5 months of age) was estimated following continuous infusion of L-[4,5–3H]leucine for a period of 7 h. Minimum and upper estimates of FSR were obtained assuming that the specific radioactivity (SRA) of leucine in blood plasma and tissue homogenate respectively defined that of leucyl tRNA.2. Mean upper estimates of tissue protein FSR (/d) were skin 0·35, longissimus dorsi muscle 0·05, biceps femoris muscle 0·04, liver 0·54, rumen 0·79, cardiac muscle 0·09. Minimum estimates of tissue protein FSR ranged from 0·03 (muscle) to 0·15 (liver).3. Plasma leucine flux was closely related to body protein content and dietary leucine absorption (r 0·94).4. The rate of whole-body protein synthesis (WBS) derived from plasma leucine flux corrected for oxidation and localized recycling of leucine into protein was similar to that calculated from the sum of daily protein synthesis in individual tissues using the upper estimate of FSR, i.e. 610 g/d v. 581 g/d.5. The estimate of WBS derived from plasma leucine flux directly (241 g/d) was similar to that calculated from the sum of minimum estimates of daily protein synthesis in individual tissues (214 g/d).6. The ratio, intracellular leucine SRA:plasma leucine SRA tended to increase with increasing dietary leucine absorption in all tissues although these factors were only significantly correlated (P < 0·05) in cardiac muscle, skin and rumen. Such relationships suggest an increased exchange of plasma leucine with intracellular leucine with increased food intake.7. It was estimated that the energy cost of protein synthesis accounted for approximately 42% of daily heat production.


1989 ◽  
Vol 257 (5) ◽  
pp. E639-E646 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Obled ◽  
F. Barre ◽  
D. J. Millward ◽  
M. Arnal

These studies were undertaken to determine to what extent constant infusion measurements and plasma sampling could provide sensible answers for rates of whole body protein turnover and also which amino acid would be the most representative probe of whole body protein turnover. Whole body protein synthesis rates were estimated in 70-g rats with L-[U-14C]threonine, L-[U-14C]lysine, L-[U-14C]tyrosine, L-[U-14C]phenylalanine, and L-[1-14C]leucine by either simultaneous tracer infusion of four amino acids or by injections of large quantities of 14C-labeled amino acids. In the infusion experiment, indirect estimates of whole body protein turnover based on free amino acid specific radioactivity and stochastic modeling were compared with direct measurement of the incorporation of the tracer into proteins. These two methods of analysis provided similar results for each amino acid, although in each case fractional synthesis rates were lower (by between 26 and 63%) when calculations were based on plasma rather than tissue specific radioactivity. With the flooding-dose method, whole body fractional protein synthesis rates were 41.4, 25.6, 31.1, and 31.4% with threonine, lysine, phenylalanine, and leucine, respectively. These values were similar to those obtained by the continuous infusion method using tissue specific radioactivity for threonine and lysine. For leucine, however, the flooding-dose method provided an intermediate value between the two estimates derived either from the plasma or the tissue specific radioactivity in the infusion method.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


1976 ◽  
Vol 231 (4) ◽  
pp. 1018-1023 ◽  
Author(s):  
ME Harney ◽  
RW Swick ◽  
NJ Benevenga

The rate of liver and muscle protein synthesis has been measured in 27 rats after feeding L-[U-14C]tyrosine in L-amino acid diets prepared as agar gels. Constant specific activity of the free tyrosine pool, as indicated by constant excretion of 14CO2, was reached within 2 h of feeding and was maintained for the remaining 6 h of the 8-h experiment. Muscle protein synthesis was decreased (P less than 0.05) in rats fed a 0.3% methionine diet compared with rats fed this diet supplemented with 0.51% cystine (fractional rate of synthesis, ks: 0.098 vs. 0.121). No effect (P greater than 0.05) of these diets on liver protein synthesis was observed (ks: 0.603 vs. 0.532). Protein synthetic rate was also determined by the constant-intravenous infusion technique in 17 rats fed unlabeled diets. The two techniques gave similar estimates. Restraint of the rats or the infusion of saline had no measurable effect on the rate of protein synthesis in rats fed labeled diets. This feeding technique is essentially equivalent to the constant-infusion technique and offers an easier, more physiological approach to achieving a steady state.


1991 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. O. Cortamira ◽  
B. Seve ◽  
Y. Lebreton ◽  
P. Ganier

Two experiments were carried out with piglets, 3–5 kg live weight, to evaluate the effects of feeding a tryptophan (TRP)-deficient diet for 2 weeks on protein synthesis rates measured in vivo 2 h after a meal. In the first experiment on twenty piglets fed on 250 g protein/kg diets, TRP deficiency (0.77 g/16 g nitrogen) as compared with adequacy (1.17 g/16 g N) significantly decreased feed intake, growth performance and fractional protein synthesis rates (FSR), without variation of RNA in longissimus dorsi (LD) and with parallel increases in RNA in semitendinosus (ST) muscle and liver. In the second experiment thirty-two piglets were tube-fed deficient and adequate diets at the two feeding levels (LF) previously achieved. Both TRP and LF significantly increased growth performance and FSR, but not RNA, in LD and ST muscle, with a trend to a synergy between the two factors (TRP x LF interaction). In another muscle, trapezius (TR), the same interaction was only apparent in RNA content. Among the three muscles it was in LD that FSR was the most responsive to dietary TRP (significant muscle x TRP interaction). In the liver the TRP x LF interaction on FSR and not RNA was the major significant effect, indicating that higher TRP and higher LF were both required to get the maximum protein synthesis rate. At 30 min after a meal the same significant interaction effect was shown on plasma glucose, whilst the higher LF increased plasma insulin with both diets. After a further 30 min the appearance of a similar significant effect of the TRP x LF interaction on plasma insulin resulted from its abatement when the deficient diet had been fed at high LF. These results suggest that dietary TRP deficiency decreased muscle and liver protein synthesis rates in relation to a decrease in the post-prandial release of insulin following a decreased rate of nutrient absorption.


1988 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Attaix ◽  
E. Aurousseau ◽  
A. Manghebati ◽  
M. Arnal

1. Protein fractional synthesis rate (FSR) was measured in some major tissues and in the whole body of six 1-week-old sucking lambs by a large injection of L-[3H]valine.2. Upper estimates of tissue protein FSR (%/d), assuming that the tissue-homogenate free-valine specific radioactivity defined that of valyl tRNA, were 115.0 in liver, 24.1 in skin, 22.9 in the white M. tensor fasciae latae, 21.6 in the red M. diaphragma and 19–6 in the remainder (exsanguinated whole body without liver and gastrointestinal tract) of lambs.3. Absolute synthesis rates (ASR) of tissue protein were 17, 19 and 42 g/d in the liver, skin and skeletal muscle respectively, and 112 g/d in the remainder. The ASR of whole-body protein, derived from the tissue values, was 146 g/d, i.e. 33 g/d per kg body-weight. The calculated whole-body protein FSR was 23.9 %/d.4. The relative percentage contribution of liver, skin and skeletal muscle to whole-body protein synthesis was 11.7, 13.1, and 29.0.5. We concluded that tissue protein FSR in lambs were in exactly the same decreasing order, from visceral tissues to skeletal muscles, as observed in rats. The ovine FSR estimates and the partitioning of protein synthesis between tissues were in the same range as values recently obtained by flooding-dose experiments in immature rats, piglets, and even in chicks. These findings suggest that inter-species differences are rather limited.


1987 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Attaix ◽  
M. Arnal

1. In Expt 1, fractional synthesis rates (FSR) of tissue protein were measured along the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of six 1-week-old, milk-fed lambs by using a large amount of L-[3,4(n)-3H]valine.2. In Expt 2, eighteen lambs were used to determine the fractional growth rate (FGR) of gastrointestinal tissue protein.3. FSRMinimum(Min) and FSRMaximum(Max) were calculated assuming plasma or tissue homogenate free valine specific radioactivity was representative of the valine precursor pool for protein synthesis. There were no significant differences between FSR(Min) and FSR(Max) in any gastrointestinal tissue of lambs used in Expt 1 (P > 0.05). FSR gradually and significantly (P > 0.05) increased from the oesophagus (FSR(Max)26.5%/d). reticulo-rumen (30.1%/d), omasum (41.0%/d) and abomasum (56.1%/d) to small intestine (87.5%/d), and then declined significantly (P < 0.05) towards the caecum (45.2%/d) and the colon (38.4%/d). No significant differences were observed between FSR in the duodenum, jejunum or ileum (P > 0.05).4. FGR ranged from 2,6%/d in the oesophagus to 8,7%/d in the omasum. The ratio, FGR:FSR, which reflected the efficiency of protein deposition, was at a maximum in the stomachs and caecum and at a minimum in the small intestine.5. The relative contribution of the oesophagus, stomachs, small intestine and large intestine to GIT protein synthesis was 1, 13, 76 and 10% respectively. The GIT accounted for approximately 11.5% of whole-body protein synthesis.


1989 ◽  
Vol 256 (5) ◽  
pp. E631-E639 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. N. Thompson ◽  
P. J. Pacy ◽  
H. Merritt ◽  
G. C. Ford ◽  
M. A. Read ◽  
...  

Whole body protein turnover was measured in six normal adults using a model based on a primed constant infusion of [2H5]phenylalanine and, independently, by an established method of a primed constant infusion of [1-13C]leucine. Isotopic plateau in plasma was achieved within 2 h for [2H5]phenylalanine and, in four of the subjects who received a priming dose of [2H4]tyrosine, for [2H4]tyrosine. In all subjects whole body protein turnover measured with the phenylalanine model (mean protein synthesis, 2.65 +/- (SD) 0.16 g.kg-1.24 h-1; catabolism, 3.58 +/- 0.26 g.kg-1.24 h-1) was similar to that measured using the leucine model (synthesis, 3.09 +/- 0.27 g.kg-1.24 h-1; catabolism, 3.70 +/- 0.35 g.kg-1.24 h-1). Mean forearm fractional muscle protein synthesis calculated by the phenylalanine model was 0.06 +/- 0.03%/h, which compares closely with literature values derived by other methods. The phenylalanine model allows the rapid assessment of whole body and muscle protein turnover from plasma samples alone, obviating the need for measurement of expired air CO2 production or enrichment.


1999 ◽  
Vol 96 (6) ◽  
pp. 639-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven W. M. OLDE DAMINK ◽  
Ivo DE BLAAUW ◽  
Nicolaas E. P. DEUTZ ◽  
Peter B. SOETERS

Glutamine is considered to be a ‘conditionally’ essential amino acid. During situations of severe stress like sepsis or after trauma there is a fall in plasma glutamine levels, enhanced glutamine turnover and intracellular muscle glutamine depletion. Under these conditions, decreased intramuscular glutamine concentration correlates with reduced rates of protein synthesis. It has therefore been hypothesized that intracellular muscle glutamine levels have a regulatory role in muscle protein turnover rates. Administration of the glutamine synthetase inhibitor methionine sulphoximine (MSO) was used to decrease glutamine levels in male Wistar rats. Immediately after the MSO treatment (t = 0 h), and at t = 6 h and t = 12 h, rats received intraperitoneal injections (10 ml/100 g body weight) with glutamine (200 mM) to test whether this attenuated the fall in plasma and intracellular muscle glutamine. Control animals received alanine and saline after MSO treatment, while saline was also given to a group of normal rats. At t = 18 h rats received a primed constant infusion of l-[2,6-3H]phenylalanine. A three-pool compartment tracer model was used to measure whole-body protein turnover and muscle protein kinetics. Administration of MSO resulted in a 40% decrease in plasma glutamine and a 60% decrease in intracellular muscle glutamine, both of which were successfully attenuated by glutamine infusions. The decreased intracellular muscle glutamine levels had no effect on whole-body protein turnover or muscle protein kinetics. Also, glutamine supplementation did not alter these parameters. Alanine supplementation increased both hindquarter protein synthesis and breakdown but the net balance of phenylalanine remained unchanged. In conclusion, our results show that decreased plasma and muscle glutamine levels have no effect on whole-body protein turnover or muscle protein kinetics. Therefore, it is unlikely that, in vivo, the intracellular muscle concentration of glutamine is a major regulating factor in muscle protein kinetics.


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