Plasma amino acid kinetics during acute states of glucagon deficiency and excess in healthy adults

1990 ◽  
Vol 258 (1) ◽  
pp. E78-E85 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Couet ◽  
N. K. Fukagawa ◽  
D. E. Matthews ◽  
D. M. Bier ◽  
V. R. Young
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Healthy Young Adult ◽  
Peripheral Tissues ◽  
Adult Men ◽  
Branched Chain Amino Acid ◽  
Alanine Synthesis ◽  
Plasma Hormone ◽  
Branched Chain ◽  
Plasma Leucine

The effects of glucagon deficiency and excess on plasma leucine, lysine, and alanine were examined in six healthy young adult men, with primed continuous infusions of L-[1-13C]- or L-[5,5,5-2H3]leucine, L-[alpha-15N]-lysine, and L-[3-13C]alanine for 150 min before and during 210 min of either a glucagon-deficient euglycemic state (experiment 1), a basal glucagon state (experiment 2), or a glucagon-excess state (experiment 3). Steady-state plasma hormone levels were achieved by infusion of somatostatin (250 micrograms/h) and insulin (0.07 mU.kg-1.min-1), without (experiment 1) or with an infusion of glucagon at 0.7 ng.kg-1.min-1 (experiment 2) or 2.5 ng.kg-1.min-1 (experiment 3). Plasma branched-chain amino acid (AA) concentrations did not change with altered glucagon status, whereas significant differences were observed for plasma lysine, alanine, glycine, serine, threonine, proline, tyrosine, citrulline, and ornithine levels (0.05 greater than P greater than 0.001). Plasma leucine, lysine, and alanine fluxes and the rate of de novo alanine synthesis showed no significant changes with either glucagon deficiency or excess. These findings lead to the conclusion that glucagon-induced alterations in plasma AA profiles are not due to changes in the rate of appearance of AA from peripheral tissues but rather a consequence of changes in the fate of AA within the splanchnic region.

scholarly journals Impaired branched chain amino acid metabolism alters feeding behavior and increases orexigenic neuropeptide expression in the hypothalamus

2011 ◽  
Vol 212 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan N Purpera ◽  
Li Shen ◽  
Marzieh Taghavi ◽  
Heike Münzberg ◽  
Roy J Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Food Intake ◽  
Feeding Behavior ◽  
Control Diet ◽  
Peripheral Tissues ◽  
Protein Status ◽  
Branched Chain Amino Acid ◽  
Branched Chain ◽  
Branched Chain Aminotransferase ◽  
Deficient Mice

Elevation of dietary or brain leucine appears to suppress food intake via a mechanism involving mechanistic target of rapamycin, AMPK, and/or branched chain amino acid (BCAA) metabolism. Mice bearing a deletion of mitochondrial branched chain aminotransferase (BCATm), which is expressed in peripheral tissues (muscle) and brain glia, exhibit marked increases in circulating BCAAs. Here, we test whether this increase alters feeding behavior and brain neuropeptide expression. Circulating and brain levels of BCAAs were increased two- to four-fold in BCATm-deficient mice (KO). KO mice weighed less than controls (25.9 vs 20.4 g,P<0.01), but absolute food intake was relatively unchanged. In contrast to wild-type mice, KO mice preferred a low-BCAA diet to a control diet (P<0.05) but exhibited no change in preference for low- vs high-protein (HP) diets. KO mice also exhibited low leptin levels and increased hypothalamicNpyandAgrpmRNA. Normalization of circulating leptin levels had no effect on either food preference or the increasedNpyandAgrpmRNA expression. If BCAAs act as signals of protein status, one would expect reduced food intake, avoidance of dietary protein, and reduction in neuropeptide expression in BCATm-KO mice. Instead, these mice exhibit an increased expression of orexigenic neuropeptides and an avoidance of BCAAs but not HP. These data thus suggest that either BCAAs do not act as physiological signals of protein status or the loss of BCAA metabolism within brain glia impairs the detection of protein balance.

scholarly journals Mechanism of De Novo Branched-Chain Amino Acid Synthesis as an Alternative Electron Sink in Hypoxic Aspergillus nidulans Cells

2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (5) ◽  
pp. 1507-1515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Motoyuki Shimizu ◽  
Tatsuya Fujii ◽  
Shunsuke Masuo ◽  
Naoki Takaya
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Aspergillus Nidulans ◽  
De Novo ◽  
Acid Synthesis ◽  
Branched Chain Amino Acids ◽  
Amino Acid Synthesis ◽  
Lactate Dehydrogenase Activity ◽  
Branched Chain Amino Acid ◽  
Branched Chain

ABSTRACT Although branched-chain amino acids are synthesized as building blocks of proteins, we found that the fungus Aspergillus nidulans excretes them into the culture medium under hypoxia. The transcription of predicted genes for synthesizing branched-chain amino acids was upregulated by hypoxia. A knockout strain of the gene encoding the large subunit of acetohydroxy acid synthase (AHAS), which catalyzes the initial reaction of the synthesis, required branched-chain amino acids for growth and excreted very little of them. Pyruvate, a substrate for AHAS, increased the amount of hypoxic excretion in the wild-type strain. These results indicated that the fungus responds to hypoxia by synthesizing branched-chain amino acids via a de novo mechanism. We also found that the small subunit of AHAS regulated hypoxic branched-chain amino acid production as well as cellular AHAS activity. The AHAS knockout resulted in higher ratios of NADH/NAD+ and NADPH/NADP+ under hypoxia, indicating that the branched-chain amino acid synthesis contributed to NAD+ and NADP+ regeneration. The production of branched-chain amino acids and the hypoxic induction of involved genes were partly repressed in the presence of glucose, where cells produced ethanol and lactate and increased levels of lactate dehydrogenase activity. These indicated that hypoxic branched-chain amino acid synthesis is a unique alternative mechanism that functions in the absence of glucose-to-ethanol/lactate fermentation and oxygen respiration.

scholarly journals Effects of meal consumption on whole body leucine and alanine kinetics in young adult men

1985 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonard J. Hoffer ◽  
Russell D. Yang ◽  
Dwight E. Matthews ◽  
Bruce R. Bistrian ◽  
Dennis M. Bier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Sampling Site ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Healthy Young Adult ◽  
Adult Men ◽  
Alanine Synthesis ◽  
Plasma Leucine ◽  
Male Subjects ◽  
Plasma Compartment ◽  
Meal Consumption

1. The effects of meal consumption on plasma leucine and alanine kinetics were studied using a simultaneous, primed, continuous infusion of L-[I-13C]leucine and L-[3,3,3-2H3]alanine in four healthy, young, adult male subjects. The study included an evaluation of the effect of sampling site on plasma amino acid kinetics, with blood being drawn simultaneously from an antecubital and dorsal heated hand vein.2. In comparison with the postabsorptive state, the ingestion of small hourly meals resulted in a 35% increase in plasma leucine flux and a 77% increase in leucine oxidation. Calculated entry of leucine into the plasma compartment from endogenous sources decreased by 65%. Plasma alanine flux more than doubled, indicating a significant enhancement in de now alanine synthesis. 13C enrichment of leucine in venous and arterialized plasma did not differ significantly, but alanine flux calculated from isotopic measurement in venous plasma was substantially greater than that based on analysis of arterialized blood plasma.

scholarly journals Branched-chain amino acid metabolism and alanine formation in rat muscles in vitro. Mitochondrial-cytosolic interrelationships

1985 ◽  
Vol 225 (3) ◽  
pp. 737-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Snell ◽  
D A Duff
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Aspartate Aminotransferase ◽  
Alanine Aminotransferase ◽  
Amino Acid Metabolism ◽  
Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase ◽  
Acid Metabolism ◽  
Branched Chain Amino Acid ◽  
Alanine Synthesis ◽  
Branched Chain ◽  
Branched Chain Aminotransferase

Muscle branched-chain amino acid metabolism is coupled to alanine formation via branched-chain amino acid aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, but the subcellular distributions of these and other associated enzymes are uncertain. Recovery of branched-chain aminotransferase in the cytosol fraction after differential centrifugation was shown to be accompanied by leakage of mitochondrial-matrix marker enzymes. By using a differential fractional extraction procedure, most of the branched-chain aminotransferase activity in rat muscle was located in the mitochondrial compartment, whereas alanine aminotransferase was predominantly in the cytosolic compartment. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, like aspartate aminotransferase, was approximately equally distributed between these subcellular compartments. This arrangement necessitates a transfer of branched-chain amino nitrogen and carbon from the mitochondria to the cytosol for alanine synthesis de novo to occur. In incubations of hemidiaphragms from 48 h-starved rats with 3mM-valine or 3mM-glutamate, the stimulation of alanine release was inhibited by 69% by 1 mM-aminomethoxybut-3-enoate, a selective inhibitor of aspartate aminotransferase. Leucine-stimulated alanine release was unaffected. These data implicate aspartate aminotransferase in the transfer of amino acid carbon and nitrogen from the mitochondria to the cytosol, and suggest that oxaloacetate, via phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, can serve as an intermediate on the route of pyruvate formation for muscle alanine synthesis.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document