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R G Shulman

Publications and source records attributed to R G Shulman.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

The flux from glucose to glutamate in the rat brain in vivo as determined by 1H-observed, 13C-edited NMR spectroscopy.

The rate of incorporation of carbon from [1-13C]glucose into the [4-CH2] and [3-CH2] of cerebral glutamate was measured in the rat brain in vivo by 1H-observed, 13C-edited (POCE) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Spectra were acquired every 98 s during a 60-min infusion of [1-13C]glucose. Complete time courses were obtained from six animals. The measured intensity of the unresolved [4-13CH2] resonances of glutamate and glutamine increased exponentially during the infusion and attained a steady state in approximately 20 min with a first-order rate constant of 0.130 +/- 0.010 min-1 (t1/2 = 5.3 +/- 0.5 min). The appearance of the [3-13CH2] resonance in the POCE difference spectrum lagged behind that of the [4-13CH2] resonance and had not reached steady state at the end of the 60-min infusion (t1/2 = 26.6 +/- 4.1 min). The increase observed in 13C-labeled glutamate represented isotopic enrichment and was not due to a change in the total glutamate concentration. The glucose infusion did not affect the levels of high-energy phosphates or intracellular pH as determined by 31P NMR spectroscopy. Since glucose carbon is incorporated into glutamate by rapid exchange with the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediate alpha-ketoglutarate, the rate of glutamate labeling provided an estimate of TCA cycle flux. We have determined the flux of carbon through the TCA cycle to be approximately 1.4 mumols g-1 min-1. These experiments demonstrate the feasibility of measuring metabolic fluxes in vivo using 13C-labeled glucose and the technique of 1H-observed, 13C-decoupled NMR spectroscopy.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

1H NMR visibility of mammalian glycogen in solution.

High-resolution 1H NMR spectra of rabbit liver glycogen in 2H2O were obtained at 500 MHz, and several resonances were assigned by comparison with the chemical shifts of alpha-linked diglucose molecules. The NMR relaxation times T1 and T2 of glycogen in 2H2O were determined to be 1.1 and 0.029 s, respectively. The measured natural linewidth of the carbon-1 proton (12 +/- 2 Hz) is in excellent agreement with that calculated from T2. The visibility measurements made by digesting glycogen and comparing glucose and glycogen signal intensities demonstrate that in spite of the very high molecular weight, all of the proton nuclei in glycogen contribute to the NMR spectrum. The result is not unexpected, since 100% NMR visibility was previously observed from the carbon nuclei of glycogen, due to the rapid intramolecular motions.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Measurement of myocardial glycogen synthesis in diabetic and fasted rats.

Diabetes and fasting provoke an increase in heart glycogen content, despite a decline in the amount of active glycogen synthase present. To determine if the activity of glycogen synthase i is still rate limiting for glycogen synthesis, we used 13C-nuclear magnetic resonance to measure the in vivo rate of glycogen synthesis and compared this with the activity of glycogen synthase and phosphorylase measured in tissue extracts using physiological concentrations of substrates and activators. In the basal state the activity of glycogen synthase i was depressed in the diabetic and fasted hearts (P less than 0.01). The rate of heart glycogen synthesis was measured during a 50-min infusion of D-[1-13C]-glucose (10 mg/min) and insulin (1 U/min) and averaged 0.32 +/- 0.04 mumol.min-1.g wet wt-1 in controls and was diminished in both the diabetic (0.18 +/- 0.04 mumol.min-1.g wet wt-1) and fasted (0.16 +/- 0.03 mumol.min-1.g wet wt-1) and fasted (0.16 +/- 0.03 mumol.min-1.g wet wt-1) rats (P less than 0.05 for each). During the glucose and insulin infusion the average activity of glycogen synthase i was greater in control than diabetic or fasted hearts (P less than 0.01 for each) and approximated the rates of net glycogen synthesis in each group. In contrast, there were no significant differences in phosphorylase alpha activity, measured in tissue extracts, among the three groups. Furthermore, although this phosphorylase alpha activity greatly exceeded synthase activity, it did not appear to be expressed in vivo. We conclude that in normal, diabetic, and fasted rats, glycogen synthase is rate limiting for glycogen synthesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Simultaneous synthesis and degradation of rat liver glycogen. An in vivo nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic study.

Using 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic methods we examined in vivo the synthesis of liver glycogen during the infusion of D-[1-13C]glucose and the turnover of labeled glycogen during subsequent infusion of D-[1-13C]glucose. In fasted rats the processes of glycogen synthesis and degradation were observed to occur simultaneously with the rate of synthesis much greater than degradation leading to net glycogen synthesis. In fed rats, incorporation of infused D-[1-13C]glucose occurred briskly; however, over 2 h there was no net glycogen accumulated. Degradation of labeled glycogen was greater in the fed versus the fasted rats (P less than 0.001), and the lack of net glycogen synthesis in fed rats was due to degradation and synthesis occurring at similar rates throughout the infusion period. There was no indication that suppression of phosphorylase a or subsequent activation of glycogen synthase was involved in modulation of the flux of tracer into liver glycogen. We conclude that in both fed and fasted rats, glycogen synthase and phosphorylase are active simultaneously and the levels of liver glycogen reached during refeeding are determined by the balance between ongoing synthetic and degradative processes.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Proton NMR observation of phenylalanine and an aromatic metabolite in the rabbit brain in vivo.

1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was used to detect directly the signal from the aromatic protons of phenylalanine (phe) in the brains of rabbits made hyperphenylalaninemic by administration of a diet high in phe and containing 0.4% alpha-methylphenylalanine. In addition to those resonances found in the region between 6.5 and 8.5 ppm in the 1H NMR spectra of control rabbits, a resonance centered at 7.37 ppm was observed in the spectra obtained from the brains of hyperphenylalaninemic rabbits in vivo or in situ postmortem. The chemical shift of this additional resonance was that expected for protons of the phenyl ring of phe. Its intensity correlated well with measurements of brain phe levels made on postmortem samples by amino acid analyzer. Both of these measurements correlated poorly with amino acid analyzer measurements of serum phe, especially at high values of the latter. High-resolution 1H NMR spectra of the brain extracts showed that in most animals an unidentified aromatic compound, possibly gamma-glutamyl-phe, was present in addition to phe. This study demonstrates the feasibility of measuring the concentration of brain phenyl and its metabolites noninvasively by 1H NMR. The method can be used for similar measurements in human brain.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Measurement of ethanol in the human brain using NMR spectroscopy.

Ethanol in the human brain is readily observable by noninvasive 1H NMR spectroscopy. We have made such observations in a human subject with a time resolution per measurement of 6.5 min and volume resolution of 16 cc. The ethanol methyl proton signal is well separated from signals of other metabolites in 1H spectra from human brain and it is one of the most intense signals in such spectra when blood ethanol concentration is 0.1% (21.7 mM)--the legal definition of alcoholic intoxication in many jurisdictions. These properties, plus the fact that the ethanol signal can be further isolated from other resonances by spectral editing, open several possibilities for further investigation.

Alcoholic Intoxication↗
PubMed1989

Direct observation of glycogen synthesis in human muscle with 13C NMR.

On the basis of previous indirect measurements, skeletal muscle has been implicated as the major site of glucose uptake and it has been suggested that muscle glycogen formation is the dominant pathway. However, direct measurements of the rates of glycogen synthesis have not been possible by previous techniques. We have developed 13C NMR methods to measure directly the rate of human muscle glycogen formation from infused, isotopically labeled [1-13C]glucose. We show that under conditions of imposed hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia, a majority of the infused glucose was converted to muscle glycogen in a normal man. This directly shows that muscle is the major site of glucose disposal under these conditions, and provides quantitation of the glucose flux to muscle glycogen.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Natural-abundance 13C NMR study of glycogen repletion in human liver and muscle.

Optimizing the surface-coil design and spectral-acquisition parameters has lead to the observation of the 13C NMR natural abundance glycogen signal in man at 2.1 T. Both the human muscle and hepatic glycogen signals can be detected definitively with a time resolution of approximately equal to 13 min. A 1H/13C concentric surface coil was used. The 1H outer coil was 11 cm in diameter; the 13C inner coil was 8 cm in diameter. The coils were tuned to 89.3 MHz and 22.4 MHz, respectively. The 1H coil was used for optimizing field homogeneity (shimming) the magnet and for single-frequency decoupling of the C1 glycogen signal. Total power deposition from both the transmitter pulse and the continuous wave decoupling did not exceed the Food and Drug Administration guideline of 8 W/kg of tissue. Experiments were done for which healthy subjects returned to the magnets at different times for 13C NMR measurement. The spectral difference between experiments was within the noise in the C1 glycogen region. Because of the spectral reproducibility and the signal sensitivity, hepatic glycogen repletion can be followed. Four hours postprandial, hepatic glycogen increases by 3.8 times from the basal fasted state. The hepatic glycogen data correspond directly to previous biopsy results and support the use of 13C NMR as a noninvasive probe of human metabolism.

Carbon Isotopes↗
PubMed1989

Effects of acute hyperammonemia on cerebral amino acid metabolism and pHi in vivo, measured by 1H and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance.

The effects of an acute intravenous infusion of ammonium acetate on rat cerebral glutamate and glutamine concentrations, energy metabolism, and intracellular pH were measured in vivo with 1H and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The level of blood ammonia maintained by the infusion protocol used in this study (approximately 500 microM, arterial blood) did not cause significant changes in arterial PCO2, PO2, or pH. Cerebral glutamate levels fell to at least 80% of the preinfusion value, whereas glutamine concentrations increased 170% relative to the preinfusion controls. The fall in brain glutamate concentrations followed a time course similar to that of the rise of brain glutamine. There were no detectable changes in the content of phosphocreatine (PCr) or nucleoside triphosphates (NTP), within the brain regions contributing to the sensitive volume of the surface coil, during the ammonia infusion. Intracellular pH, estimated from the chemical shift of the inorganic phosphate resonance relative to the resonance of PCr in the 31P spectrum, was also unchanged during the period of hyperammonemia. 1H spectra, specifically edited to allow quantitation of the brain lactate content, indicated that lactate rose steadily during the ammonia infusion. Detectable increases in brain lactate levels were observed approximately 10 min after the start of the ammonia infusion and by 50 min of infusion had more than doubled. Spectra acquired from rats that received a control infusion of sodium acetate were not different from the spectra acquired prior to the infusion of either ammonium or sodium acetate.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acetates↗
PubMed1989

Protection of the kidney against ischemic injury by inhibition of 5'-nucleotidase.

We have evaluated the impact of inhibiting adenine nucleotide dephosphorylation on the metabolic and functional consequences of renal ischemia. Intramuscular injection of the ADP-analogue adenosine alpha, beta-methylene diphosphate (AMP-CP) achieved a 70% reduction in 5'-nucleotidase activity, as measured in crude extracts of rat kidney. AMPCP-treated animals had an increased residual nucleotide pool at the end of 45 min of ischemia compared with untreated rats. Assessment of renal ATP by 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance (31P-NMR) in vivo during reflow demonstrates the following: 1) higher rapid initial recovery of ATP (69.3 +/- 1.2 vs. 50.0 +/- 0.5% control value, P less than 0.005), 2) accelerated rate of ATP restoration (0.20 +/- 0.02 vs. 0.11 +/- 0.01% control/min, P less than 0.005), and 3) significantly enhanced renal ATP content after 120 min (93.6 +/- 2.0 vs. 63.1 +/- 0.7% control, P less than 0.005). Kidney function, as measured by the rate of inulin clearance 24 h after the insult, was also significantly improved in AMPCP-treated rats (725 +/- 50 vs. 313 +/- 28 microliters.min-1.100 g body wt-1). Thus inhibition of 5'-nucleotidase results in enhanced metabolic and functional recovery from a renal ischemic insult.

5'-Nucleotidase↗
PubMed1988

13C NMR studies of glycogen turnover in the perfused rat liver.

To assess whether hepatic glycogen is actively turning over under conditions which promote net glycogen synthesis we perfused livers from 24-h fasted rats with 20 mM D-[1-13C]glucose, 10 mM L-[3-13C]alanine, 10 mM L-[3-13C]lactate, and 1 microM insulin for 90 min followed by a 75-min "chase" period with perfusate of the same composition containing either 13C-enriched or unlabeled substrates. The peak height of the C-1 resonance of the glucosyl subunits in glycogen was monitored, in real time, using 13C NMR techniques. During the initial 90 min the peak height of the C-1 resonance of glycogen increased at almost a constant rate reflecting a near linear increase in net glycogen synthesis, which persisted for a further 75 min if 13C-enriched substrates were present during the "chase" period. However, when the perfusate was switched to the unenriched substrates, the peak height of the C-1 resonance of glycogen declined in a nearly linear manner reflecting active glycogenolysis during a time of net glycogen synthesis. By comparing the slopes of the curve describing the time course of the net [1-13C] glucose incorporation into glycogen with the rate of net loss of 13C label from the C-1 resonance of glycogen during the "chase" period we estimated the relative rate of glycogen breakdown to be 60% of the net glycogen synthetic rate. Whether this same phenomenon occurs to such an appreciable extent in vivo remains to be determined.

Alanine↗
PubMed1988

NMR measurements of in vivo myocardial glycogen metabolism.

Using 13C and 1H NMR we measured the rate of glycogen synthesis (0.23 +/- 0.10 mumol/min gram wet weight tissue (gww) in rat heart in vivo during an intravenous infusion of D-[1-13C]glucose and insulin. Glycogen was observed within 10 min of starting and increased linearly throughout a 50-min infusion. This compared closely with the average activity of glycogen synthase I (0.22 +/- 0.03 mumol/min gww) measured at physiologic concentrations of UDP-glucose (92 microM) and glucose-6-phosphate (110 microM). When unlabeled glycogen replaced D-[1-13C]glucose in the infusate after 50 min the D-[1-13C]glycogen signal remained stable for another 60 min, indicating that no turnover of the newly synthesized glycogen had occurred. Despite this phosphorylase a activity in heart extracts from rats given a 1 h glucose and insulin infusion (3.8 +/- 2.4 mumol/min gww) greatly exceeded the total synthase activity and if active in vivo should promote glycogenolysis. We conclude that during glucose and insulin infusion in the rat: (a) the absolute rate of myocardial glycogen synthesis can be measured in vivo by NMR; (b) glycogen synthase I can account for the observed rates of heart glycogen synthesis; (c) there is no futile cycling of glucose in and out of heart glycogen; and (d) the activity of phosphorylase a measured in tissue extracts is not reflected in vivo. These studies raise the question whether significant regulation of phosphorylase a activity in vivo is mediated by factors in addition to its phosphorylation state.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1988

Intracellular pH in human skeletal muscle by 1H NMR.

We report here the in vivo observation of the imidazole protons (C-2 and C-4) of carnosine (beta-Ala-His) by 1H NMR at 4.7 T in human skeletal muscle. The relationship between the pH and chemical shift of the C-2 and C-4 resonances was determined analytically. These titration curves were used to measure the resting pH of human muscle in vivo, 7.01 x 0.04 (C-2 proton) and 6.97 +/- 0.10 (C-4 proton). An in vivo titration curve of the C-2 proton resonance was determined by interleaving 1H and 31P NMR spectra after exhaustive exercise, during which muscle pH recovers from an acidic value of 6.1. We observed excellent agreement between the pH values as determined by the C-2 resonance of carnosine and that of inorganic phosphate. Carnosine provides an excellent pH indicator since (i) its concentration is relatively stable and (ii) it allows measurement of proton metabolites and pH to be achieved through the same coil, thus enabling a better signal/noise ratio and better localization.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1988

Surface coil localization of 31P NMR signals from orthotopic human kidney and liver.

By incorporating the hyperbolic secant inversion pulses with the image-selected in vivo spectroscopy localization technique and by applying a gradient-echo imaging method, we have selected only the 31P NMR signals from orthotopic human kidney and liver, using a single concentric 1H/31P surface coil. Corresponding to the experimental results on animal studies, the phosphocreatine signal is dramatically reduced in the localized spectra. Our localization strategy also allows us to shim easily on the well-defined volume of interest and leads to high-resolution spectra that exhibit multiplet structure. Our results indicate that we can obtain localized signals from deep small organs and point the way for other human metabolism studies.

Humans↗
PubMed1988

Detection of human muscle glycogen by natural abundance 13C NMR.

Natural abundance 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy was used to detect signals from glycogen in the human gastrocnemius muscle. The reproducibility of the measurement was demonstrated, and the ability to detect dynamic changes was confirmed by measuring a decrease in muscle glycogen levels after exercise and its subsequent repletion. Single frequency gated 1H decoupling was used to obtain decoupled natural abundance 13C NMR spectra of the C-1 position of muscle glycogen.

Glycogen↗
PubMed1988

Spatially localized 1H NMR spectra of metabolites in the human brain.

Using a surface coil, we have obtained 1H NMR spectra from metabolites in the human brain. Localization was achieved by combining depth pulses with image-selected in vivo spectroscopy magnetic field gradient methods. 1H spectra in which total creatine (3.03 ppm) has a signal/noise ratio of 95:1 were obtained in 4 min from 14 ml of brain. A resonance at 2.02 ppm consisting predominantly of N-acetylaspartate was measured relative to the creatine peak in gray and white matter, and the ratio was lower in the white matter. The spin-spin relaxation times of N-acetylaspartate and creatine were measured in white and gray matter and while creatine relaxation times were the same in both, the N-acetylaspartate relaxation time was longer in white matter. Lactate was detected in the normoxic brain and the average of three measurements was approximately equal to 0.5 mM from comparison with the creatine plus phosphocreatine peak, which was assumed to be 10.5 mM.

Algorithms↗