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In vivo portal-hepatic venous gradients of glycogenic precursors and incorporation of D-(3- sup 3 H)glucose into liver glycogen in the awake rat

Journal Article · · Journal of Biological Chemistry; (USA)
OSTI ID:6511722
; ; ;  [1]
  1. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, MD (USA)

Male Wistar fed rats were chronically cannulated and fed ground chow for 2 h for 6 days. On the 7th post-operative day, blood was simultaneously drawn from the portal and hepatic veins over a 2-h feeding period. The position of the hepatic vein cannula was verified using a tritiated water washout technique. In separate experiments, 200 microCi of (3-3H)glucose was added to the food in order to determine the contribution of D-glucose and 3-C precursors to newly synthesized glycogen. The 22-h fasting plasma portal vein concentrations of D-glucose, L-lactate, and L-alanine were 4.8 +/- 0.03, 0.81 +/- 0.06, and 0.20 +/- 0.03 mM, respectively (n = 5). The fasting hepatic vein plasma concentrations were 5.1 +/- 0.2, 0.70 +/- 0.15 and 0.19 +/- 0.03 mM, respectively. The portal-hepatic vein gradients after 22 h were -0.24, +0.16, and +0.01 mM for D-glucose, L-lactate, and L-alanine, respectively. At 20 min after beginning the meal, the respective gradients were +2.2, +0.53, and +0.44 mM, indicating hepatic uptake of all glycogen precursors. Of the total carbon from the three major precursors entering the liver as C-6, D-glucose contributed 82%, while alanine and lactate contributed 18% at 20 min. As portal vein D-glucose and L-alanine levels exceeded 6.65 +/- 0.69 and 0.32 +/- 0.07 mM, respectively, the portal-hepatic venous gradient became positive and increased linearly with portal concentrations. The glycogen concentration in the liver increased from a 22-h fast value of 5 mumol of glucosyl units/g wet weight to 101 +/- 7 mumol/g 2 h after the meal. The mean specific activity of portal vein plasma of (3-3H)glucose was 11,490 +/- 1,180 dpm/mumol (+/- S.E.) and that in the glycogen isolated from liver was 8,175 +/- 785 dpm/mumol of glycosyl units 2 h after the meal. The specific activity of liver (3H)glycogen relative to glucose after the meal was 0.73 +/- 0.08.

OSTI ID:
6511722
Journal Information:
Journal of Biological Chemistry; (USA), Journal Name: Journal of Biological Chemistry; (USA) Vol. 265:27; ISSN JBCHA; ISSN 0021-9258
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English