Effects of Androgenic Hormones on the Rate of Incorporation of Labeled Amino Acids in Male Adult Mice

1957 ◽  
Vol 191 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred Novak

Measurements of radioactivity were made on various tissues of the male mouse and the rates of in vivo incorporation of various radioactive amino acids into proteins were determined in intact, castrated, and male hormone-treated castrated mice. Using the rate of incorporation of radioactive amino acids into protein tissue as a criterion for protein metabolism, male hormones at physiological dosages produced no significant protein anabolic effect in visceral and muscle tissues of the mice studied. As a general rule, the castrated mice incorporated more radioactive amino acids than intact animals. Incorporation of radioactive histidine however in longer time periods appeared to follow a somewhat different pattern, i.e., the male hormone showed a stimulating action in both intact and hormone-treated castrates.

1992 ◽  
Vol 263 (5) ◽  
pp. E928-E934 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Nair ◽  
R. G. Schwartz ◽  
S. Welle

Leucine has been proposed as an in vivo regulator of protein metabolism, although the evidence for this in humans remains inconclusive. To test this hypothesis, we infused either L-leucine (154 +/- 1 mumol.kg-1 x h-1) or saline intravenously in six healthy men in two separate studies. L-Leucine infusion increased plasma concentrations of leucine and alpha-ketoisocaproate from 112 +/- 6 and 38 +/- 3 mumol/l to 480 +/- 27 (P < 0.001) and 94 +/- 13 mumol/l (P < 0.001), respectively, without any significant change in circulating insulin or C peptide levels. Leucine infusion decreased plasma concentrations of several amino acids and decreased whole body valine flux and valine oxidation (using L-[1-13C]valine as a tracer) and phenylalanine flux (using [2H5]-phenylalanine as a tracer). According to arteriovenous differences across the leg, the net balance of phenylalanine, valine, and lysine shifted toward greater retention during leucine infusion, whereas alanine balance did not change. Valine release and phenylalanine release from the leg (estimated from the dilution of respective tracers) decreased, indicating inhibition of protein degradation by leucine infusion. We conclude that leucine decreases protein degradation in humans and that this decreased protein degradation during leucine infusion contributes to the decrease in plasma essential amino acids. This study suggests a potential role for leucine as a regulator of protein metabolism in humans.


1990 ◽  
Vol 259 (3) ◽  
pp. E342 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Hourani ◽  
P Williams ◽  
J A Morris ◽  
M E May ◽  
N N Abumrad

The effects of insulin-induced hypoglycemia (IIH) on leucine kinetics (mumol.kg-1.min-1) and interorgan flow of amino acids (AA) were examined in 2 groups of 18-h fasted conscious dogs. Insulin was infused at 5 mU.kg-1.min-1 for 3 h. IIH (40 +/- 5 mg/dl) resulted in a drop in plasma leucine (114 +/- 10 to 64 +/- 9 microM) and leucine rate of appearance (Ra) (3.1 +/- 0.1 to 2.4 +/- 0.2) within 1 h but gradually increased (P less than 0.05) to 145 +/- 30 microM and 3.8 +/- 0.5 by 3 h. Leucine oxidative rate of disposal (Rd) increased from 0.44 +/- 0.08 to 1.02 +/- 0.35 (P less than 0.01), and nonoxidative Rd dropped initially but was near basal levels by 3 h. When euglycemia was maintained, there was sustained drop in plasma leucine from 122 +/- 12 to 42 +/- 6 mumol/l, leucine Ra from 3.1 +/- 0.4 to 1.8 +/- 0.2, oxidative Rd from 0.36 +/- 0.03 to 0.22 +/- 0.04, and nonoxidative Rd from 2.75 +/- 0.4 to 1.6 +/- 0.2 (all P less than 0.01). IIH was associated with a significant net release of leucine (and other AA) across the gut (0.04 +/- 0.05 to 1.86 +/- 0.30 mumol.kg-1.min-1; P less than 0.05). In the group with euglycemia there was no significant change in the gut balance of leucine. We conclude that IIH is associated with a proteolytic response and that the gut is the major contributor to this response.


1985 ◽  
Vol 40 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 427-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus-Joachim Schott ◽  
Jochen Gehrmann ◽  
Ulla Potter ◽  
Volker Neuhoff

Abstract 1. The effect of ʟ-norleucine, an isomer of leucine, on protein metabolism in vivo was studied in suckling rats. Rats were injected subcutaneously with various doses of ʟ-norleucine (0.5 and 5.0 μmol/g body wt.) every 12 h from 3 to 15 days post partum. Protein concentration, amino acid concentrations, and incorporation of [3H]tyrosine into protein were analyzed in liver, muscles of thigh and small intestine. Amino acid concentrations and insulin levels in serum were also measured. 2. At 5 days of age, norleucine induced an increase in protein concentration of skeletal muscle with an increased incorporation of [3H]tyrosine into protein indicating an accelerated protein synthesis. Changes in protein metabolism were paralleled by alterations in the amino acid pattern of this tissue. 3. When protein concentration and protein synthesis were increased in skeletal muscle, protein concentration of small intestine was decreased, accompanied by elevated levels of amino acids in tissue. Protein synthesis of small intestine was not altered by the norleucine treatment. The results suggest a close interrelationship between skeletal muscle and small intestine with respect to protein turnover. 4. The effects of norleucine were less pronounced at 10 and 15 days of age, which indicates a metabolic adaptation to the treatment. 5. Alterations in amino acid concentrations of tissue due to changes in protein metabolism were not uniform but tissue-specific. 6. Current concepts for explaining the effects of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) on protein turnover in skeletal muscle are based on the assumption that the BCAA or leucine alone might become rate-limiting for protein synthesis in muscle under catabolic conditions. The amino acid analogue norleucine, however, cannot replace any of the BCAA in protein. Additionally, norleucine affected protein metabolism in highly anabolic organisms. Therefore, the present thoughts on this issue appear to be incomplete.


1955 ◽  
Vol 101 (6) ◽  
pp. 617-626 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. Whipple ◽  
R. B. Hill ◽  
R. Terry ◽  
F. V. Lucas ◽  
C. L. Yuile

Plasma proteins tagged in vivo by feeding D-L-lysine-ϵ-C14 to donor dogs have been administered to pregnant dogs by both oral and intravenous routes. A relatively small percentage of the C14 activity originally incorporated in these proteins is found to pass from mother to fetus after intravenous injection. The amount transferred tends to increase with the length of gestation period and total number of fetuses. Plasma protein labeled with I131 does not cross the placenta in the dog, but does in the rabbit. Evans blue dye does not cross the placenta of the dog. After oral administration of labeled plasma protein or lysine, C14 is transferred promptly and in considerable quantity to the fetus. Labeled plasma proteins disappear more rapidly from the circulation of pregnant than of normal dogs. This increased metabolic turnover occurs without excretion of any excess waste metabolites. The chorionic epithelium, gram for gram, is probably 2 to 3 times as active as the hepatic epithelium in protein metabolism. These findings indicate an important placental function related to maternal and fetal protein metabolism. While the placenta utilizes maternal plasma proteins and amino acids, in a quantitative sense the latter appear to supply the major nitrogen needs of the growing fetus.


1964 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. French ◽  
Z. Duma

Preliminary studies were made on the incorporation of C14-labeled glycine and proline into tissue cultures of rabbit stromal cells, excised rabbit corneas, and rabbit corneas in vivo. Some evidence has been presented that this incorporation reflects synthesis, chiefly into proteins. With rabbit corneas in vitro, no evidence was found that the presence of epithelium increased the incorporation of amino acid into constituents of the stroma. During in vivo incorporation it was found that the proteins of the endothelium were about twice and the proteins of the epithelium about four times as active as those of the stroma.


1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 2170-2177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zdenko Procházka ◽  
Jiřina Slaninová
Keyword(s):  

Solid phase technique on p-methylbenzhydrylamine resin was used for the synthesis of four analogs of oxytocin and four analogs of vasopressin with the non-coded amino acids L- or D- and 1- or 2-naphthylalanine and D-homoarginine. [L-1-Nal2]oxytocin, [D-1-Nal2]oxytocin, [L-2-Nal2]oxytocin, [D-2-Nal2]oxytocin, [L-1-Nal2, D-Har8]vasopressin, [D-1-Nal2, D-Har8]vasopressin, [L-2-Nal2, D-Har8]vasopressin and [D-2-Nal2, D-Har8]vasopressin were synthesized. All eight analogs were found to be uterotonic inhibitors in vitro and in vivo. Analogs with 2-naphthylalanine are stronger inhibitors, particularly in the vasopressin series than the analogs with 1-naphthylalanine. Analogs with 1-naphthylalanine have no activity in the pressor test, analogs with 2-naphthylalanine are weak pressor inhibitors.


Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 481
Author(s):  
Gemma G. Martínez-García ◽  
Raúl F. Pérez ◽  
Álvaro F. Fernández ◽  
Sylvere Durand ◽  
Guido Kroemer ◽  
...  

Autophagy is an essential protective mechanism that allows mammalian cells to cope with a variety of stressors and contributes to maintaining cellular and tissue homeostasis. Due to these crucial roles and also to the fact that autophagy malfunction has been described in a wide range of pathologies, an increasing number of in vivo studies involving animal models targeting autophagy genes have been developed. In mammals, total autophagy inactivation is lethal, and constitutive knockout models lacking effectors of this route are not viable, which has hindered so far the analysis of the consequences of a systemic autophagy decline. Here, we take advantage of atg4b−/− mice, an autophagy-deficient model with only partial disruption of the process, to assess the effects of systemic reduction of autophagy on the metabolome. We describe for the first time the metabolic footprint of systemic autophagy decline, showing that impaired autophagy results in highly tissue-dependent alterations that are more accentuated in the skeletal muscle and plasma. These changes, which include changes in the levels of amino-acids, lipids, or nucleosides, sometimes resemble those that are frequently described in conditions like aging, obesity, or cardiac damage. We also discuss different hypotheses on how impaired autophagy may affect the metabolism of several tissues in mammals.


Genetics ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 149 (4) ◽  
pp. 1649-1663
Author(s):  
Oliver Z Nanassy ◽  
Kelly T Hughes

Abstract The Hin recombinase catalyzes a site-specific recombination reaction that results in the reversible inversion of a 1-kbp segment of the Salmonella chromosome. The DNA inversion reaction catalyzed by the Salmonella Hin recombinase is a dynamic process proceeding through many intermediate stages, requiring multiple DNA sites and the Fis accessory protein. Biochemical analysis of this reaction has identified intermediate steps in the inversion reaction but has not yet revealed the process by which transition from one step to another occurs. Because transition from one reaction step to another proceeds through interactions between specific amino acids, and between amino acids and DNA bases, it is possible to study these transitions through mutational analysis of the proteins involved. We isolated a large number of mutants in the Hin recombinase that failed to carry out the DNA exchange reaction. We generated genetic tools that allowed the assignment of these mutants to specific transition steps in the recombination reaction. This genetic analysis, combined with further biochemical analysis, allowed us to define contributions by specific amino acids to individual steps in the DNA inversion reaction. Evidence is also presented in support of a model that Fis protein enhances the binding of Hin to the hixR recombination site. These studies identified regions within the Hin recombinase involved in specific transition steps of the reaction and provided new insights into the molecular details of the reaction mechanism.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (15) ◽  
pp. 4587
Author(s):  
Fanny d’Orlyé ◽  
Laura Trapiella-Alfonso ◽  
Camille Lescot ◽  
Marie Pinvidic ◽  
Bich-Thuy Doan ◽  
...  

There is a challenging need for the development of new alternative nanostructures that can allow the coupling and/or encapsulation of therapeutic/diagnostic molecules while reducing their toxicity and improving their circulation and in-vivo targeting. Among the new materials using natural building blocks, peptides have attracted significant interest because of their simple structure, relative chemical and physical stability, diversity of sequences and forms, their easy functionalization with (bio)molecules and the possibility of synthesizing them in large quantities. A number of them have the ability to self-assemble into nanotubes, -spheres, -vesicles or -rods under mild conditions, which opens up new applications in biology and nanomedicine due to their intrinsic biocompatibility and biodegradability as well as their surface chemical reactivity via amino- and carboxyl groups. In order to obtain nanostructures suitable for biomedical applications, the structure, size, shape and surface chemistry of these nanoplatforms must be optimized. These properties depend directly on the nature and sequence of the amino acids that constitute them. It is therefore essential to control the order in which the amino acids are introduced during the synthesis of short peptide chains and to evaluate their in-vitro and in-vivo physico-chemical properties before testing them for biomedical applications. This review therefore focuses on the synthesis, functionalization and characterization of peptide sequences that can self-assemble to form nanostructures. The synthesis in batch or with new continuous flow and microflow techniques will be described and compared in terms of amino acids sequence, purification processes, functionalization or encapsulation of targeting ligands, imaging probes as well as therapeutic molecules. Their chemical and biological characterization will be presented to evaluate their purity, toxicity, biocompatibility and biodistribution, and some therapeutic properties in vitro and in vivo. Finally, their main applications in the biomedical field will be presented so as to highlight their importance and advantages over classical nanostructures.


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