Lactate metabolism in the fetal rabbit lung

Conference · Thu May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1986 · Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5232933

Engle, M J; Brown, D J; Dooley, M

Lactate is frequently overlooked as a potential substrate for the fetal lung, even though it is present in the fetal circulation in concentrations as high as 8 mM. These high concentrations, coupled with the relatively low levels of glucose in the fetal blood, may indicate that lactate can substitute for glucose in pulmonary energy generation and phospholipid synthesis. A series of experiments was therefore undertaken in order to investigate the role of lactate in perinatal pulmonary development. Explants from 30 day gestation fetal rabbit lungs were incubated in Krebs-Ringer bicarbonate buffer supplemented with 3 mM (U-/sup 14/C)-glucose and varying levels of lactate. In the absence of medium lactate, fetal rabbit lung explants were capable of producing lactate at a rate of approximately 200 etamoles/mg protein/hour. The addition of lactate to the bathing medium immediately reduced net lactate production and above 4 mM, fetal rabbit lung explants became net utilizers of lactate. Media lactate concentrations of 2.5 mM, 5 mM and 10 mM also decreased glucose incorporation into total tissue disaturated phosphatidylcholine by approximately 20%, 35%, and 45%, respectively. Glucose incorporation into surfactant phosphatidylcholine was also reduced by approximately 50%, when lactate was present in the incubation medium at a concentration of 5 mM. Additional experiments also revealed that fetal lung lactate dehydrogenase activity was almost twice that found in the adult rabbit lung. These data indicate that lactate may be an important carbon source for the developing lung and could be a significant component in the manufacture of surfactant phosphatidylcholine during late gestation.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
• OSTI ID: 5232933
• Report Number(s): CONF-8606151-
• Journal Information: Fed. Proc., Fed. Am. Soc. Exp. Biol.; (United States), Vol. 45:6; Conference: 76. annual meeting of the Federation of American Society for Experimental Biology, Washington, DC, USA, 8 Jun 1986
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
LACTATES
METABOLISM
CARBON 14 COMPOUNDS
ENZYME ACTIVITY
FETUSES
GLUCOSE
LUNGS
OXIDOREDUCTASES
PHOSPHOLIPIDS
RABBITS
TRACER TECHNIQUES
TRANSPLANTS
ALDEHYDES
ANIMALS
BODY
CARBOHYDRATES
CARBOXYLIC ACID SALTS
ENZYMES
ESTERS
HEXOSES
ISOTOPE APPLICATIONS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
LIPIDS
MAMMALS
MONOSACCHARIDES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS
ORGANS
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
SACCHARIDES
VERTEBRATES
550501* - Metabolism- Tracer Techniques