Potential role of leucine metabolism in the leucine-signaling pathway involving mTOR

2003 ◽  
Vol 285 (4) ◽  
pp. E854-E863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Lynch ◽  
Beth Halle ◽  
Hisao Fujii ◽  
Thomas C. Vary ◽  
Reidar Wallin ◽  
...  

Leucine has been shown to stimulate adipose tissue protein synthesis in vivo as well as leptin secretion, protein synthesis, hyper-plastic growth, and tissue morphogenesis in in vitro experiments using freshly isolated adipocytes. Recently, others have proposed that leucine oxidation in the mitochondria may be required to activate the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), the cytosolic Ser/Thr protein kinase that appears to mediate some of these effects. The first irreversible and rate-limiting step in leucine oxidation is catalyzed by the branched-chain α-keto acid dehydrogenase (BCKD) complex. The activity of this complex is regulated acutely by phosphorylation of the E1α-subunit at Ser293 (S293), which inactivates the complex. Because the α-keto acid of leucine regulates the activity of BCKD kinase, it has been suggested as a potential target for leucine regulation of mTOR. To study the regulation of BCKD phosphorylation and its potential link to mTOR activation, a phosphopeptide-specific antibody recognizing this site was developed and characterized. Phospho-S293 (pS293) immunoreactivity in liver corresponded closely to diet-induced changes in BCKD activity state. Immunoreactivity was also increased in TREMK-4 cells after the induction of BCKD kinase by a drug-inducible promoter. BCKD S293 phosphorylations in adipose tissue and gastrocnemius (which is mostly inactive in vivo) were similar. This suggests that BCKD complex in epididymal adipose tissue from food-deprived rats is mostly inactive (unable to oxidize leucine), as is the case in muscle. To begin to test the leucine oxidation hypothesis of mTOR activation, the dose-dependent effects of orally administered leucine on acute activation of S6K1 (an mTOR substrate) and BCKD were compared using the pS293 antibodies. Increasing doses of leucine directly correlated with increases in plasma leucine concentration. Phosphorylation of S6K1 (Thr389, the phosphorylation site leading to activation) in adipose tissue was maximal at a dose of leucine that increased plasma leucine approximately threefold. Changes in BCKD phosphorylation state required higher plasma leucine concentrations. The results seem more consistent with a role for BCKD and BCKD kinase in the activation of leucine metabolism/oxidation than in the activation of the leucine signal to mTOR.

1976 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
O Meyuhas ◽  
L Reshef ◽  
F J Ballard ◽  
R W Hanson

1. Epididymal adipose tissue from the rat was maintained in culture for periods of up to 96h. 2. After an initial decrease in protein synthesis during the first 24h of culture, the adipose tissue recovered its capacity to synthesize and accumulate proteins of a relatively large size. 3. The activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase decreased in a parallel manner, but increased again after 24h of incubation of the tissue in culture, to a value twice that noted in the tissue in vivo. This increase in enzyme activity was due to an increase in its rate of synthesis. 4. Both insulin and dexamethasone (9alpha-fluoro-16alpha-methyl-11beta,17,-21-trihydroxypregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione) inhibited phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase synthesis, but dexamethasone also decreased total protein synthesis. 5. The half-life of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase in adipose tissue cultured in vitro was 5-7h and was not altered by insulin or dexamethasone. 6. It is concluded that both insulin and glucocroticoids lower the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase in rat adipose tissue by decreasing its rate of synthesis.


1964 ◽  
Vol 207 (6) ◽  
pp. 1215-1220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisa Gutman ◽  
Eleazar Shafrir

Rat adipose tissue from different body sites was shown to contain uridine diphosphoglucose (UDPG)-transglucosylase activity, which on the basis of protein content was comparable to or higher than that reported for muscle or liver. In epididymal adipose tissue, the activity of UDPG-glycogen transglucosylase and phosphorylase, as well as the content of glycogen per wet weight, decreased with increasing age of the animals in parallel with the decrease of tissue protein content. On prolonged fast the activity of UDPG-glycogen transglucosylase and phosphorylase per milligram protein dropped by 25–50% of the control value. On refeeding, the extent of changes was variable but, in general, at 24 hr control or higher levels of activity were reached and at 48 hr the activities were elevated. The ratio of glucose 6-phosphate independent activity of UDPG-glycogen transglucosylase to total activity was not affected by fasting and refeeding or by the administration of glucose with insulin. In adrenalectomized rats, with high adipose tissue glycogen, no change in UDPG-glycogen transglucosylase was found, whereas the levels of phosphorylase were elevated. Epinephrine in vivo and in vitro did not affect the activity of UDPG-glycogen transglucosylase of adipose tissue.


1986 ◽  
Vol 251 (3) ◽  
pp. E343-E348 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Rodriguez ◽  
W. F. Schwenk ◽  
B. Beaufrere ◽  
J. M. Miles ◽  
M. W. Haymond

We have reported that infusion of trioctanoin in conscious dogs had little effect on leucine oxidation but decreased the rate of appearance (Ra) and interconversion of leucine and its alpha-keto acid, alpha-ketoisocaproate (KIC). To verify that these conclusions were independent of the leucine tracers and isotope models employed, the studies were repeated using [1-14C]leucine and [4,5-3H]KIC rather than [1-14C]KIC and [4,5-3H]leucine. In the present study, leucine oxidation calculated using the plasma [14C]leucine or [14C]KIC specific activities (SA) increased nearly twofold (P less than 0.001) during trioctanoin infusion in direct contrast to our previous results. When the data from either study were analyzed using the plasma SA of the leucine moiety reciprocal to the infused tracer as a potential indicator of the intracellular leucine SA, similar conclusions were obtained from either study: trioctanoin infusion in conscious dogs appears to increase whole-body leucine oxidation and does not decrease proteolysis. These studies challenge the validity of previously used isotope models of leucine metabolism and suggest that the plasma KIC SA during infusion of labeled leucine may most accurately reflect changes in whole-body leucine metabolism.


2007 ◽  
Vol 293 (6) ◽  
pp. E1736-E1745 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erin E. Kershaw ◽  
Michael Schupp ◽  
Hong-Ping Guan ◽  
Noah P. Gardner ◽  
Mitchell A. Lazar ◽  
...  

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) regulates adipocyte genes involved in adipogenesis and lipid metabolism and is the molecular target for thiazolidinedione (TZD) antidiabetic agents. Adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) is a recently described triglyceride-specific lipase that is induced during adipogenesis and remains highly expressed in mature adipocytes. This study evaluates the ability of PPARγ to directly regulate ATGL expression in adipocytes in vitro and in vivo. In fully differentiated 3T3-L1 adipocytes, ATGL mRNA and protein are increased by TZD and non-TZD PPARγ agonists in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Rosiglitazone-mediated induction of ATGL mRNA is rapid and is not inhibited by the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide, indicating that intervening protein synthesis is not required for this effect. Rosiglitazone-mediated induction of ATGL mRNA and protein is inhibited by the PPARγ-specific antagonist GW-9662 and is also significantly reduced following siRNA-mediated knockdown of PPARγ, supporting the direct transcriptional regulation of ATGL by PPARγ. In vivo, ATGL mRNA and protein are increased by rosiglitazone treatment in white and brown adipose tissue of mice with and without obesity due to high-fat diet or leptin deficiency. Thus, PPARγ positively regulates ATGL mRNA and protein expression in mature adipocytes in vitro and in adipose tissue in vivo, suggesting a role for ATGL in mediating PPARγ's effects on lipid metabolism.


2002 ◽  
Vol 283 (4) ◽  
pp. E824-E835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Lynch ◽  
Susan M. Hutson ◽  
Brian J. Patson ◽  
Alain Vaval ◽  
Thomas C. Vary

Acute administration of leucine and norleucine activates the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) cell-signaling pathway and increases rates of protein synthesis in a number of tissues in fasted rats. Although persistent stimulation of mTOR signaling is thought to increase protein synthetic capacity, little information is available concerning the effects of chronic administration of these agonists on protein synthesis, mTOR signal transduction, or leucine metabolism. Hence, we developed a model of chronic leucine/norleucine supplementation via drinking water and examined the effects of chronic (12 days) supplementation on protein synthesis in adipose tissue, kidney, heart, liver, and skeletal muscle from ad libitum-fed rats. The relative concentration of proteins involved in mTOR signaling and the two initial steps in leucine oxidation were also examined. Leucine or norleucine supplementation was accompanied by increased rates of protein synthesis in adipose tissue, liver, and skeletal muscle, but not in heart or kidney. Supplementation was not associated with increases in the anabolic hormones insulin or insulin-like growth factor I. Chronic supplementation did not cause apparent adaptation in either components of the mTOR cell-signaling pathway that respond to leucine (mTOR, ribosomal protein S6 kinase, and eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein-1) or the first two steps in leucine metabolism (the mitochondrial isoform of branched-chain amino acid transaminase, branched-chain keto acid dehydrogenase, and branched-chain keto acid dehydrogenase kinase), which may be involved in terminating the signal from leucine. These results suggest that provision of leucine or norleucine supplementation via the drinking water results in stimulation of postprandial protein synthesis in adipose tissue, skeletal muscle, and liver without notable adaptive changes in signaling proteins or metabolic enzymes.


1990 ◽  
Vol 269 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
A G Mackay ◽  
J D Oliver ◽  
M P Rogers

Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) has previously been shown to decrease lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity and mRNA levels in 3T3-L1 cells and in adipose tissue from rats and guinea pigs when injected in vivo, but not to alter LPL activity in human adipocytes incubated in vitro. The effect of recombinant human TNF on LPL activity and mRNA levels in rat epididymal adipose tissue incubated in vitro was examined. LPL activity and mRNA levels fell in adipose tissue taken from fed rats and incubated in Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate medium with glucose. The addition of insulin and dexamethasone prevented these falls. TNF (400 ng/ml) produced a fall of approx. 50% in LPL activity after 2 h of incubation and of approx. 30% in LPL mRNA levels after 3 h. TNF did not decrease LPL activity in isolated adipocytes. These results demonstrate that rat adipose tissue incubated in vitro is responsive to TNF whereas isolated adipocytes are not.


1982 ◽  
Vol 242 (1) ◽  
pp. E67-E71
Author(s):  
S. L. Nissen ◽  
J. M. Miles ◽  
J. E. Gerich ◽  
M. W. Haymond

The importance of alpha-keto acid binding to plasma proteins was investigated both in vitro and in vivo using alpha-ketoisocaproate (KIC), the alpha-keto acid of leucine. Gel chromatography indicated that 65% of the radioactivity comigrated with serum albumin. An ultrafiltration assay was developed to estimate the percentage of free and bound KIC. These percentages, along with total plasma KIC concentrations, were used to calculate the circulating concentrations of free and bound KIC. KIC or free fatty acids (FFA) displaced [14C]KIC bound to bovine albumin or whole plasma. KIC was totally displaced from plasma proteins by 10 mM oleate, stearate, and myristate; whereas the alpha-keto acids of isoleucine and value were 50 and 85%, respectively, as effective as KIC. To determine whether increased plasma FFA concentrations alter the binding of KIC to plasma proteins in vivo, five postabsorptive humans were infused with triglyceride and heparin during the simultaneous administration of somatostatin, glucagon, and insulin. During the FFA elevation, plasma leucine decreased by 9% (P less than 0.02). Total plasma KIC remained constant, whereas free KIC increased (P less than 0.02) and bound KIC decreased (P less than 0.001). These results indicate that KIC is bound to plasma albumin in vivo and suggests that FFA, by altering circulating free KIC concentrations, may influence protein metabolism in man.


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