Hormonal regulation of human protein metabolism

1996 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierpaolo De Feo

De Feo P. Hormonal regulation of human protein metabolism. Eur J Endocrinol 1996:135:7–18. ISSN 0804–4643 This review focuses on the effects of hormones on protein kinetics in humans. Most of the recent knowledge on the regulation of protein metabolism in humans has been obtained by tracing protein kinetics in vivo, using labelled isotopes of essential or non-essential amino acids. This technique allows the rates of the whole-body protein synthesis and breakdown to be estimated together with amino acid oxidation and the fractional synthetic rates of mixed muscle proteins or of single plasma proteins. Changes induced within these parameters by hormonal administration or endocrine diseases are also discussed. Hormones, on the basis of their net effect on protein balance (protein synthesis minus protein breakdown), are divided into two categories: those provided with an anabolic action and those with a prevalent catabolic action. The effects on protein metabolism of the following hormones are reviewed: insulin, growth hormone, IGF-I, adrenaline, androgens, estrogens, progesterone, glucagon, glucocorticosteroids, thyroid hormones. The review concludes with a report on the effects of multiple hormonal infusions on whole-body protein kinetics and a discussion on the potential role played by the concomitant increase of several hormones in the pathogenesis of protein wasting that complicates stress diseases. Pierpaolo De Feo, DIMISEM, Via E. Dal Pozzo, 06126 Perugia, Italy

Author(s):  
Jorn Trommelen ◽  
Andrew M. Holwerda ◽  
Philippe J. M. Pinckaers ◽  
Luc J. C. van Loon

All human tissues are in a constant state of remodelling, regulated by the balance between tissue protein synthesis and breakdown rates. It has been well-established that protein ingestion stimulates skeletal muscle and whole-body protein synthesis. Stable isotope-labelled amino acid methodologies are commonly applied to assess the various aspects of protein metabolism in vivo in human subjects. However, to achieve a more comprehensive assessment of post-prandial protein handling in vivo in human subjects, intravenous stable isotope-labelled amino acid infusions can be combined with the ingestion of intrinsically labelled protein and the collection of blood and muscle tissue samples. The combined application of ingesting intrinsically labelled protein with continuous intravenous stable isotope-labelled amino acid infusion allows the simultaneous assessment of protein digestion and amino acid absorption kinetics (e.g. release of dietary protein-derived amino acids into the circulation), whole-body protein metabolism (whole-body protein synthesis, breakdown and oxidation rates and net protein balance) and skeletal muscle metabolism (muscle protein fractional synthesis rates and dietary protein-derived amino acid incorporation into muscle protein). The purpose of this review is to provide an overview of the various aspects of post-prandial protein handling and metabolism with a focus on insights obtained from studies that have applied intrinsically labelled protein under a variety of conditions in different populations.


1991 ◽  
Vol 261 (1) ◽  
pp. R106-R116
Author(s):  
N. W. Istfan ◽  
P. R. Ling ◽  
G. L. Blackburn ◽  
B. R. Bistrian

To evaluate the accuracy of in vivo estimates of protein synthesis and breakdown, measurements of plasma and tissue leucine kinetics were made in rat tumor tissues at different conditions of growth by use of constant intravenous infusion of [14C]leucine. These measurements were made in Yoshida sarcoma tumors on days 10 and 13 after implantation, with and without tumor necrosis factor (TNF) infusion and on day 10 in Walker-256 carcinosarcoma. Expressed as micromoles of leucine per gram tissue, tumor protein breakdown increased (P less than 0.01) from 0.32 +/- 0.02 to 0.52 +/- 0.09 (SE) mumol/h, with progress of the Yoshida sarcoma tumor between days 10 and 13 after implantation. Similarly, TNF increased tumor proteolysis on day 10 (0.43 +/- 0.03 mumol.h-1.g-1, P less than 0.05 vs. day 10 control) but not on day 13 after implantation of the Yoshida tumor. Estimates of growth derived from the difference between protein synthesis and breakdown rates were not statistically different from those based on actual tumor volume changes in both tumor models. However, estimates of “whole body” protein metabolism (plasma leucine flux) were not affected either by tumor aging or by treatment with TNF. This study shows that in vivo estimates of tissue protein metabolism based on our [14C]leucine constant infusion model closely reflect the growth characteristic of that tissue. A cytotoxic perfusion-independent effect for intravenous TNF on growing tumor tissue is demonstrable as increased protein breakdown. Furthermore, the commonly used concept of whole body protein metabolism, derived solely from tracer dilution in plasma, is an oversimplification.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 1661-1661
Author(s):  
Jacob Mey ◽  
John Kirwan

Abstract Objectives We investigated the effect of consuming a whole-grain diet on whole-body protein metabolism compared to a macronutrient-matched refined-grain diet in adults with overweight/obesity using labelled amino acids (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01411540). Methods We conducted a randomized, controlled crossover trial in 14 adults with overweight/obesity (age: 40 ± 7 yrs, BMI: 33 ± 5 kg/m2) in which isocaloric, macronutrient-matched whole-grain (WG) and refined-grain (RG) diets were fully provided for two 8-week periods (with a 10-week washout period). Diets differed only in the inclusion of whole grains (50 g/1000 kcal). Body composition was measured via DEXA. Whole-body protein kinetics were assessed before and after each diet in the fasted state (13C-Leucine, primed, constant infusion) and over 24 hours (15N-Glycine, bolus). Protein kinetics were normalized to fat-free mass (FFM). Results Both diets resulted in mild weight loss (WG: −2.0 ± 2.5 kg; RG: −2.9 ± 3.3 kg; both P = 0.01 compared to baseline). Fasted-state leucine kinetics revealed greater protein synthesis (WG: 205 ± 61 µmol/kgFFM/hr; RG: 178 ± 36 µmol/kgFFM/hr; P = 0.04) and protein breakdown (WG: 235 ± 68 µmol/kgFFM/hr; RG: 203 ± 40 µmol/kgFFM/hr, P = 0.03) on a WG vs RG diet. This resulted in a more negative fasted-state net balance on a WG diet (WG: −30 ± 8 µmol/kg/hr; RG: −25 ± 6 µmol/kg/hr, P = 0.02). In contrast, 24-hour whole-body protein turnover measured by the end-product method (15N-Glycine), revealed greater protein synthesis (WG: 316 ± 135 mg protein/kgFFM/hr; RG: 250 ± 94 mg protein/kgFFM/hr) with no difference in protein breakdown, yielding a more positive 24-hr net balance on a WG diet (WG: 31 ± 21 mg protein/kgFFM/hr; RG: 10 ± 34 mg protein/kgFFM/hr). Conclusions A whole-grain diet increases whole-body leucine flux and results in a greater 24-hr net protein balance in adults with overweight/obesity compared to a refined-grain diet. This trial suggests whole-grains have an independent effect on protein metabolism and may benefit adults with overweight/obesity. Funding Sources This research was supported by the NIH (UL1 RR024989, T32DK007319 (JPK); T32AT004094 (JTM – trainee)) and an investigator-initiated grant from Nestle (JPK). Nestle Product Technology Center and Cereal Partners Worldwide provided the study meals and foods.


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.


1992 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia M. Harris ◽  
Pat A. Skene ◽  
Vivien Buchan ◽  
E. Milne ◽  
A. G. Calder ◽  
...  

Whole-body protein synthesis, estimated by the irreversible loss rate procedure, and hind-leg protein metabolism determined by arterio-venous techniques were monitored in response to three nutritional conditions (approximately 0.6, 12 and 1.8 x energy maintenance (M)) in ten wether lambs (33 kg average live weight). In all lambs and treatments measurements were based on radiolabelled phenylalanine, but the terminal procedures (five at 0.6 x M and five at 1.8 x M) also included infusion of [1-13C]leucine; this permitted comparison of amino acids catabolized (leucine) and non-metabolized (phenylalanine) by the hind-limb tissues. Whole-body protein synthesis increased with intake and the relationship with energy expenditure was slightly lower than that reported previously for pigs and cattle. The efficiency of protein retention: protein synthesis did not exceed 0.25 between the two intake extremes. Effects of intake on amino acid oxidation were similar to those observed for cattle. Hind-limb protein synthesis also increased significantly (P < 0.001) in response to intake. Estimates of protein gain, from net uptake values, indicated that the tissues made a greater proportional contribution to total protein retention above M and to protein loss below M, emphasizing the role played by muscle tissue in providing mobile protein stores. The rates of protein synthesis calculated depended on the selection of precursor (blood) metabolite, but rates based on leucine always exceeded those based on phenylalanine when precursor from the same pool was selected. The incremental efficiency of protein retained: protein synthesis was apparently unity between 0.6 and 1.2 x M but 0.3 from 1.2 to 1.8 x M. Blood flow through the iliac artery was also proportional to intake. Leucine and oxo-acid catabolism to carbon dioxide increased with intake such that the metabolic fate of the amino acid was distributed in the proportion 2:1 between protein gain and oxidation. The rates of oxidation were only 1–3% the reported capacity of the rate-limiting dehydrogenase enzyme in muscle, but sufficient enzyme activity resides in the hind-limb adipose tissue to account for such catabolism


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.


1988 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 765-768 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yosuke Aoyagi ◽  
Iwao Tasaki ◽  
Jun-ichi Okumura ◽  
Tatsuo Muramatsu

2002 ◽  
Vol 283 (6) ◽  
pp. E1105-E1112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenqi Liu ◽  
Eugene J. Barrett

The body's protein mass not only provides architectural support for cells but also serves vital roles in maintaining their function and survival. The whole body protein pool, as well as that of individual tissues, is determined by the balance between the processes of protein synthesis and degradation. These in turn are regulated by interactions among hormonal, nutritional, neural, inflammatory, and other influences. Prolonged changes in either the synthetic or degradative processes (or both) that cause protein wasting increase morbidity and mortality. The application of tracer kinetic methods, combined with measurements of the activity of components of the cellular signaling pathways involved in protein synthesis and degradation, affords new insights into the regulation of both protein synthesis and breakdown in vivo. These insights, including those from studies of insulin, insulin-like growth factor I, growth hormone, and amino acid-mediated regulation of muscle and whole body protein turnover, provide opportunities to develop and test therapeutic approaches with promise to minimize or prevent these adverse health consequences.


1993 ◽  
Vol 265 (1) ◽  
pp. E31-E35 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. F. Chien ◽  
K. Smith ◽  
P. W. Watt ◽  
C. M. Scrimgeour ◽  
D. J. Taylor ◽  
...  

Before elective cesarean delivery (4 h), we infused L-[1-13C]leucine and L-[15N]phenylalanine into the maternal circulation and measured enrichment and concentration of amino acids and carbon dioxide in cord blood of six normal human fetuses at delivery. There were net fetal uptakes of leucine (2.22 +/- 0.29 mumol.kg-1.min-1) and phenylalanine (0.80 +/- 0.11 mumol.kg-1.min-1) with net outputs of CO2 (6.11 +/- 1.12 ml.kg-1.min-1) and the transamination product of leucine, alpha-ketoisocaproate (1.04 +/- 0.32 mumol.kg-1.min-1). Fetal amino acid oxidation accounted for a substantial proportion of the flux from the mother (leucine, 0.36 +/- 0.09 mumol.kg-1.min-1 and phenylalanine, 0.18 +/- 0.04 mumol.kg-1.min-1). Fetal whole body accretion of leucine carbon (0.82 +/- 0.21 mumol.kg-1.min-1) was 69% of the umbilical uptake, and that of phenylalanine (0.62 +/- 0.08 mumol.kg-1.min-1) was 78%. Fetal whole body protein synthesis was approximately 13 g.kg-1.day-1, i.e., much faster than in adults but similar to that in the newborn. Net protein accretion was 2-4 g.kg-1.day-1. The placental supply of leucine and phenylalanine exceeds the fetal demand for protein synthesis by only a small amount, suggesting that the safety margin of placental transfer may be small for these amino acids. The results suggest that the method could be applied safely to studies of fetal growth retardation.


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.


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