Alanine, arginine, cysteine, and proline, but not glutamine, are substrates for, and acute mediators of, the liver-α-cell axis in female mice

2020 ◽  
Vol 318 (6) ◽  
pp. E920-E929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrine D. Galsgaard ◽  
Sara L. Jepsen ◽  
Sasha A. S. Kjeldsen ◽  
Jens Pedersen ◽  
Nicolai J. Wewer Albrechtsen ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to identify the amino acids that stimulate glucagon secretion in mice and whose metabolism depends on glucagon receptor signaling. Pancreata of female C57BL/6JRj mice were perfused with 19 individual amino acids and pyruvate (at 10 mM), and secretion of glucagon was assessed using a specific glucagon radioimmunoassay. Separately, a glucagon receptor antagonist (GRA; 25–2648, 100 mg/kg) or vehicle was administered to female C57BL/6JRj mice 3 h before an intraperitoneal injection of four different isomolar amino acid mixtures (in total 7 µmol/g body wt) as follows: mixture 1 contained alanine, arginine, cysteine, and proline; mixture 2 contained aspartate, glutamate, histidine, and lysine; mixture 3 contained citrulline, methionine, serine, and threonine; and mixture 4 contained glutamine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Blood glucose, plasma glucagon, amino acid, and insulin concentrations were measured using well-characterized methodologies. Alanine ( P = 0.03), arginine ( P < 0.0001), cysteine ( P = 0.01), glycine ( P = 0.02), lysine ( P = 0.02), and proline ( P = 0.03), but not glutamine ( P = 0.9), stimulated glucagon secretion from the perfused mouse pancreas. However, when the four isomolar amino acid mixtures were administered in vivo, the four mixtures elicited similar glucagon responses ( P > 0.5). Plasma concentrations of total amino acids in vivo were higher after administration of GRA when mixture 1 ( P = 0.004) or mixture 3 ( P = 0.04) were injected. Our data suggest that alanine, arginine, cysteine, and proline, but not glutamine, are involved in the acute regulation of the liver-α-cell axis in female mice, as they all increased glucagon secretion and their disappearance rate was altered by GRA.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrine D. Galsgaard ◽  
Sara Lind Jepsen ◽  
Sasha A.S. Kjeldsen ◽  
Jens Pedersen ◽  
Nicolai J. Wewer Albrechtsen ◽  
...  

AbstractAimTo identify the amino acids that stimulate glucagon secretion in mice and whether the metabolism of these relies on glucagon receptor signaling.MethodsPancreata of female C57BL/6JRj mice were perfused with 19 individual amino acids (1 mM) and secretion of glucagon was assessed using a specific glucagon radioimmunoassay. Separately, a glucagon receptor antagonist (GRA; 25-2648, 100 mg/kg) or vehicle was administered to female C57BL/6JRj mice three hours prior to an intraperitoneal injection of four different isomolar (in total 7 µmol/g body weight) amino acid mixtures; mixture 1: alanine, arginine, cysteine, and proline; mixture 2: asparatate, glutamate, histidine, and lysine; mixture 3: citrulline, methionine, serine, and threonine; and mixture 4: glutamine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Blood glucose, plasma glucagon, amino acid, and insulin concentrations were measured using well characterized methodologies.ResultsAlanine (P=0.03), arginine (P<0.001), and proline (P=0.03) but not glutamine (P=0.2) stimulated glucagon secretion from the perfused mouse pancreas. Cysteine had the numerically largest effect on glucagon secretion but did not reach statistical significance (P=0.08). However, when the four isomolar amino acid mixtures were administered there were no significant difference (P>0.5) in plasma concentrations of glucagon across mixture 1-4. Plasma concentrations of total amino acids were higher after administration of GRA when mixture 1 (P=0.004) or mixture 3 (P=0.04) were injected.ConclusionOur data suggest that alanine, arginine, and proline but not glutamine are involved in the liver-alpha cell axis in mice as they all increased glucagon secretion and their disappearance rate was altered by GRA.Graphical abstract


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Norton ◽  
Simon C Cork ◽  
Aldara Martin Alonso ◽  
Anna G Roberts ◽  
Yateen S Patel ◽  
...  

Abstract The existence of a vago-vagal entero-pancreatic pathway, where sensory information from the gut can signal via vagal afferents to the brain to mediate changes in pancreatic function, has been recognised for over a century, and investigated extensively with regards to pancreatic exocrine secretions. However, the role of such pathways in pancreatic endocrine secretions has received less attention. The secretion of insulin and glucagon in response to protein and amino acids is conserved across species. This effect is thought to promote amino acid uptake into tissues without concomitant hypoglycaemia. We found that the essential amino acid L-Phenylalanine potently stimulates glucagon secretion, even when administered directly into the gut at small doses unlikely to significantly raise systematic levels. Administration of L-Phenylalanine also increased neuronal activation in the rat and mouse dorsal vagal complex, the central nervous system region directly innervated by vagal afferents. L-Phenylalanine modulates the activity of the calcium sensing receptor (CaSR), a nutrient sensor more commonly known for its role in calcium homeostasis, but which is thought to also act as a sensor of aromatic amino acids. Interestingly, the CaSR is one of the few nutrient sensors expressed in vagal afferents and in vitro calcium imaging revealed CaSR synthetic agonists activate subpopulations of vagal afferents. The role of CaSR in vivo was investigated further by selectively knocking down the CaSR in vagal afferents. Briefly, CaSR floxed mice were bilaterally injected directly into the nodose ganglion, where the cell bodies of vagal afferents are located, with a cre expressing adeno-associated virus. CaSR knockdown did not interfere with normal food intake, nor the vagal-dependent anorectic effects of cholecystokinin, or of L-Phenylalanine. However, it did blunt protein-induced glucagon secretion, suggesting involvement of the CaSR in the vagus nerve in protein sensing and glucose homeostasis. Future studies are required to determine the importance of vagal CaSR in protein induced pancreatic endocrine secretions, and the possibility of exploiting this circuit to develop new anti-diabetic therapies.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiaofeng Liu ◽  
Guangyao Lin ◽  
Yan Chen ◽  
Wenbo Feng ◽  
Yingna Xu ◽  
...  

Glucagon plays an important role in glucose homeostasis and amino acid metabolism. It regulates plasma amino acid levels which in turn modulate glucagon secretion from the pancreatic a-cell, thereby establishing a liver-α-cell axis described recently. We reported previously that the knock-in mice bearing homozygous V369M substitution (equivalent to a naturally occurring mutation V368M in the human glucagon receptor, GCGR) led to hypoglycemia with improved glucose tolerance. They also exhibited hyperglucagonemia, pancreas enlargement and α-cell hyperplasia. Here, we investigated the effect of V369M/V368M mutation on glucagon-mediated amino acid metabolism. It was found that GcgrV369M+/+ mice displayed increased plasma amino acid levels in general, but significant accumulation of the ketogenic/glucogenic amino acids was observed in animals fed with a high fat diet, resulting in deleterious metabolic consequence characteristic of α-cell proliferation and hyperglucagonemia.


1971 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 639 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Leibholz

L-histidine, glycine, and L-amino acid mixtures were placed in the washed rumen of sheep in concentrations similar to those found under normal feeding conditions. The amounts of individual amino acids lost from the rumen over a 4 hr period ranged from virtually zero to 50% of the initial concentration of amino acids placed in the rumen. It was calculated that this could account for 6% of the total nitrogen absorption from the rumen. The amount of L-amino acids lost from the rumen depended on their initial concentration and on the concentration of other amino acids present. The branched chain amino acids showed the most rapid absorption.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Yun Liu ◽  
Shemil P. Macelline ◽  
Peter V. Chrystal ◽  
Peter H. Selle

AbstractThe prime purpose of this review is to explore the pathways whereby progress towards reduced-crude protein (CP) diets and sustainable chicken-meat production may be best achieved. Reduced-CP broiler diets have the potential to attenuate environmental pollution from nitrogen and ammonia emissions; moreover, they have the capacity to diminish the global chicken-meat industry’s dependence on soybean meal to tangible extents. The variable impacts of reduced-CP broiler diets on apparent amino acid digestibility coefficients are addressed. The more accurate identification of amino acid requirements for broiler chickens offered reduced-CP diets is essential as this would diminish amino acid imbalances and the deamination of surplus amino acids. Deamination of amino acids increases the synthesis and excretion of uric acid for which there is a requirement for glycine, this emphasises the value of so-called “non-essential” amino acids. Starch digestive dynamics and their possible impact of glucose on pancreatic secretions of insulin are discussed, although the functions of insulin in avian species require clarification. Maize is probably a superior feed grain to wheat as the basis of reduced-CP diets; if so, the identification of the underlying reasons for this difference should be instructive. Moderating increases in starch concentrations and condensing dietary starch:protein ratios in reduced-CP diets may prove to be advantageous as expanding ratios appear to be aligned to inferior broiler performance. Threonine is specifically examined because elevated free threonine plasma concentrations in birds offered reduced-CP diets may be indicative of compromised performance. If progress in these directions can be realised, then the prospects of reduced-CP diets contributing to sustainable chicken-meat production are promising.


1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 294-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Pilgrim ◽  
E T Young

Alcohol dehydrogenase isoenzyme III (ADH III) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the product of the ADH3 gene, is located in the mitochondrial matrix. The ADH III protein was synthesized as a larger precursor in vitro when the gene was transcribed with the SP6 promoter and translated with a reticulocyte lysate. A precursor of the same size was detected when radioactively pulse-labeled proteins were immunoprecipitated with anti-ADH antibody. This precursor was rapidly processed to the mature form in vivo with a half-time of less than 3 min. The processing was blocked if the mitochondria were uncoupled with carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone. Mutant enzymes in which only the amino-terminal 14 or 16 amino acids of the presequence were retained were correctly targeted and imported into the matrix. A mutant enzyme that was missing the amino-terminal 17 amino acids of the presequence produced an active enzyme, but the majority of the enzyme activity remained in the cytoplasmic compartment on cellular fractionation. Random amino acid changes were produced in the wild-type presequence by bisulfite mutagenesis of the ADH3 gene. The resulting ADH III protein was targeted to the mitochondria and imported into the matrix in all of the mutants tested, as judged by enzyme activity. Mutants containing amino acid changes in the carboxyl-proximal half of the ADH3 presequence were imported and processed to the mature form at a slower rate than the wild type, as judged by pulse-chase studies in vivo. The unprocessed precursor appeared to be unstable in vivo. It was concluded that only a small portion of the presequence contains the necessary information for correct targeting and import. Furthermore, the information for correct proteolytic processing of the presequence appears to be distinct from the targeting information and may involve secondary structure information in the presequence.


1972 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Shephard ◽  
Wendy B. Levin

The ability of chloroplasts isolated from Acetabulana mediterranea to synthesize the protein amino acids has been investigated. When this chloroplast isolate was presented with 14CO2 for periods of 6–8 hr, tracer was found in essentially all amino acid species of their hydrolyzed protein Phenylalanine labeling was not detected, probably due to technical problems, and hydroxyproline labeling was not tested for The incorporation of 14CO2 into the amino acids is driven by light and, as indicated by the amount of radioactivity lost during ninhydrin decarboxylation on the chromatograms, the amino acids appear to be uniformly labeled. The amino acid labeling pattern of the isolate is similar to that found in plastids labeled with 14CO2 in vivo. The chloroplast isolate did not utilize detectable amounts of externally supplied amino acids in light or, with added adenosine triphosphate (ATP), in darkness. It is concluded that these chloroplasts are a tight cytoplasmic compartment that is independent in supplying the amino acids used for its own protein synthesis. These results are discussed in terms of the role of contaminants in the observed synthesis, the "normalcy" of Acetabularia chloroplasts, the synthetic pathways for amino acids in plastids, and the implications of these observations for cell compartmentation and chloroplast autonomy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 114 (11) ◽  
pp. 1845-1851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yean Yean Soong ◽  
Joseph Lim ◽  
Lijuan Sun ◽  
Christiani Jeyakumar Henry

AbstractConsumption of high glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic response (GR) food such as white rice has been implicated in the development of type 2 diabetes. Previous studies have reported the ability of individual amino acids to reduce GR of carbohydrate-rich foods. Because of the bitter flavour of amino acids, they have rarely been used to reduce GR. We now report the use of a palatable, preformed amino acid mixture in the form of essence of chicken. In all, sixteen healthy male Chinese were served 68 or 136 ml amino acid mixture together with rice, or 15 or 30 min before consumption of white rice. Postprandial blood glucose and plasma insulin concentrations were measured at fasting and every 15 min after consumption of the meal until 60 min after the consumption of the white rice. Subsequent blood samples were taken at 30-min intervals until 210 min. The co-ingestion of 68 ml of amino acid mixture with white rice produced the best results in reducing the peak blood glucose and GR of white rice without increasing the insulinaemic response. It is postulated that amino acid mixtures prime β-cell insulin secretion and peripheral tissue uptake of glucose. The use of ready-to-drink amino acid mixtures may be a useful strategy for lowering the high-GI rice diets consumed in Asia.


2000 ◽  
Vol 167 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Wang ◽  
H Wolosker ◽  
J Pevsner ◽  
SH Snyder ◽  
DJ Selkoe

Little evidence is available for the physiological function of D-amino acids in species other than bacteria. Here we demonstrate that naturally occurring freed -aspartate (D-Asp) is present in all magnocellular neurons of rat hypothalamus. The levels of this naturally occurring D-amino acid were elevated during lactation and returned to normal thereafter in the magnocellular neurosecretory system, which produces oxytocin, a hormone responsible for milk ejection during lactation. Intraperitoneal injections of D-Asp reproducibly increased oxytocin gene expression and decreased the concentration of circulating oxytocin in vivo. Similar changes were observed in the vasopressin system. These results provide evidence for the role(s) of naturally occurring free D-Asp in mammalian physiology. The findings argue against the conventional concept that only L-stereoisomers of amino acids are functional in higher species.


1973 ◽  
Vol 51 (12) ◽  
pp. 933-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Njanoor Narayanan ◽  
Jacob Eapen

The effect of cycloheximide in vitro and in vivo on the incorporation of labelled amino acids into protein by muscles, liver, kidneys, and brain of rats and pigeons was studied. In vitro incorporation of amino acids into protein by muscle microsomes, myofibrils, and myofibrillar ribosomes was not affected by cycloheximide. In contrast, administration of the antibiotic into intact animals at a concentration of 1 mg/kg body weight resulted in considerable inhibition of amino acid incorporation into protein by muscles, liver, kidneys, and brain. This inhibition was observed in all the subcellular fractions of these tissues during a period of 10–40 min after the administration of the precursor. Tissue homogenates derived from in vivo cycloheximide-treated animals did not show significant alteration in in vitro amino acid incorporation with the exception of brain, which showed a small but significant enhancement.


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