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Postmaturity in the rat: glucose metabolism in the fetus and the neonate.

The present study was designed to investigate glucose metabolism in the postmature fetus and newborn. In the fetus, the decreased hepatic glycogen content together with the decrease by the same percentage of total hepatic glycogen radioactivity from directly injected [6-3H]glucose demonstrate that fetal glycogenolysis occurs during prolonged gestation. Moreover, fetal glycogen synthesis as tested by in vivo [6-3H]glucose incorporation experiments is inhibited. In vivo experiments with [14C]lactate are consistent with gluconeogenesis, being inactive in the postmature fetus as well as in the normal-term fetus. During the first hr after delivery, our in vivo data about conversion of [14C]lactate to glucose show that the gluconeogenic pathway is not functioning in spite of very high phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity in the postmature. By 3 hr postpartum, the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity, the blood lactate level, the percentage of conversion, and the rate of gluconeogenesis are very elevated in the postmatures as compared to the term neonates. By 6 hr postpartum, despite maintained phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activity, gluconeogenic rate becomes very weak in postmatures kept fasting. This is the time characterized by a profound hypoglycemia. In contrast, fed postmature neonates exhibit normal blood glucose levels by 6 and 12 hr postpartum as a result of sustained rate of gluconeogenesis.

Animals↗

Isotopic measurement of glucose and lactate kinetics.

A variety of isotopic tracers can be used to quantitate glucose kinetics in vivo. Using the standard approach to calculate the rate of appearance (Ra) of glucose from kinetic data, different rates of Ra glucose are obtained depending on the nature and position of the label in glucose. If total glucose production is considered to be all glycogen breakdown and gluconeogenesis, then that value can be calculated using the following stable isotopic tracers, or, in most cases their radioactive counterparts: 6, 6-2H-glucose; 1-13C, 6-13C; and U-13C-glucose. In the case of the 13C-labeled glucose, account must be taken of the extent of recycling of labeled carbons. If U-13C-glucose is used and recycling of isotope not quantitated, the resulting calculated value for Ra glucose will represent the rate of production from non-recycled carbons, plus some recycled carbons, due to potential dilution of 13C in the oxaloacetate pool and some loss of 13C in the PEPCK reaction. Traditional calculation of Ra glucose using 2-2H-glucose will include the rate of total glucose production and the contribution from the glucose cycle, and use of 3-2H-glucose will include the rate of total glucose production and contribution of the fructose cycle. The traditional methodology used to measure lactate production, in contrast to glucose, has a major conceptual flaw. It requires the assumption that there is no isotopic exchange between lactate and other compounds, yet experimental evidence indicates that lactate and pyruvate are in rapid equilibrium. Consequently, this approach will overestimate the true rate of net lactate production, possibly by as much as 400%.

Carbon Isotopes↗

Biosynthetic origin of mycobacterial cell wall arabinosyl residues.

Designing new drugs that inhibit the biosynthesis of the D-arabinan moiety of the mycobacterial cell wall arabinogalactan is one important basic approach for treatment of mycobacterial diseases. However, the biosynthetic origin of the D-arabinosyl monosaccharide residues themselves is not known. To obtain information on this issue, mycobacteria growing in culture were fed glucose labeled with 14C or 3H in specific positions. The resulting radiolabeled cell walls were isolated and hydrolyzed, the arabinose and galactose were separated by high-pressure liquid chromatography, and the radioactivity in each sugar was determined. [U-14C]glucose, [6-3H]glucose, [6-14C]glucose, and [1-14C]glucose were all converted to cell wall arabinosyl residues with equal retention of radioactivity. The positions of the labeled atoms in the arabinose made from [1-14C]glucose and [6-3H]glucose were shown to be C-1 and H-5, respectively. These results demonstrated that the arabinose carbon skeleton is formed via the nonoxidative pentose shunt and not via hexose decarboxylation or via triose condensations. Since the pentose shunt product, ribulose-5-phosphate, is converted to arabinose-5-phosphate as the first step in 3-keto-D-manno-octulosonic acid biosynthesis by gram-negative bacteria, such a conversion was then searched for in mycobacteria. However, cell-free enzymatic analysis using both phosphorous nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry and colorimetric methods failed to detect the conversion. Thus, the conversion of the pentose shunt intermediates to the D-arabino stereochemistry is not via the expected isomerase but rather must occur via novel metabolic transformations.

Arabinose↗

Simultaneous determination of glucose turnover, alanine turnover, and gluconeogenesis in human using a double stable-isotope-labeled tracer infusion and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis.

We have developed and validated a new method to measure simultaneously glucose turnover, alanine turnover, and gluconeogenesis in human, in steady and non-steady states, using a double stable-isotope-labeled tracer infusion and GC-MS analysis. The method is based on the concomitant infusion and dilution of D-[2,3,4,6,6-2H5]glucose and L-[1,2,3-13C3]alanine. The choice of the tracers was done on the basis of a minimal overlap between the ions of interest and those arising from natural isotopic abundances. Alanine was chosen as the gluconeogenic substrate because it is the major gluconeogenic amino acid extracted by the liver and, with lactate, constitutes the bulk of the gluconeogenic precursors. The method was validated by comparing the results obtained during simultaneous infusion of trace amounts of both stable isotope labeled compounds with the radioactive tracers (D-[3-3H]glucose and L-[1,2,3-14C3]alanine) in a normal and a diabetic subject; the radiolabeled tracers were used as the accepted reference procedure. A slight overestimation of glucose turnover (7.3 versus 6.8 in normal and 10.8 versus 9.2 mumol/kg min in diabetic subject) was noticed when the stable isotope-labeled tracers were used. For the basal turnover rate of alanine, similar values were obtained with both methods (6.2 mumol/kg min). For gluconeogenesis, higher values were observed in the basal state with the stable isotopes (0.42 versus 0.21 mumol/kg min); however, these differences disappeared in the postprandial period after the ingestion of a mixed meal. Despite those minor differences, the overall correlation with the reference method was excellent for glucose turnover (r = 0.87) and gluconeogenesis (r = 0.86).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Alanine↗

Glucose utilization by the placenta of anesthetized rats: effect of insulin, glucose, and ketone bodies.

Placental glucose metabolism and its regulation have been investigated in vivo in the rat using the radioactive 2-deoxyglucose technique. In the basal state, placental glucose utilization rates were similar on days 19 and 21 of gestation: 139 +/- 5 and 155 +/- 22 nmol/min/g at maternal blood glucose concentrations of 4.3 +/- 0.1 and 4.2 +/- 0.1 mmol/1. During hyperglycemic clamps, maternal glycemia was raised to 5.5 mmol/liter, a value similar to that during a meal in the rat. In this condition, the rate of placental glucose utilization at 19 days of gestation was increased by 85%. This was due not only to hyperglycemia but also to glucose-induced hyperinsulinemia. Indeed during hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamps, placental glucose utilization showed a dose-response relationship to insulin (400 and 5000 microU/ml). At 21 days of gestation, placental glucose utilization was not affected by hyperglycemia or by hyperinsulinemia suggesting that in term placenta, glucose metabolism is no longer regulated. When 19-day pregnant rats were fasted for 48 and 96 h, the resulting low blood glucose and plasma insulin concentrations and the high ketone body concentrations induced, respectively, a 40 and 47% reduction of placental glucose utilization. The decrease in placental glucose utilization probably was due to both maternal hypoglycemia and long term adaptation to hyperketonemia. Indeed, the acute hyperketonemia in fed rats did not alter glucose utilization rate in placenta at 19 days of gestation. These data suggest that glucose metabolism in the preterm rat placenta is modulated in vivo by the maternal metabolic environment, particularly by maternal blood glucose and insulin concentrations.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Glucose fermentation pathway of Thermoanaerobium brockii.

Thermoanaerobium brockii was shown to catabolize glucose via the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas pathway into ethanol, acetic acid, H(2)-CO(2), and lactic acid. Radioactive tracer studies, employing specifically labeled [(14)C]glucose, demonstrated significant fermentation of (14)CO(2) from C-3 and C-4 of the substrate exclusively. All extracts contained sufficient levels of activity (expressed in micromoles per minute per milligram of protein at 40 degrees C) to assign a catabolic role for the following enzymes: glucokinase, 0.40; fructose-1,6-diphosphate aldolase, 0.23; glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, 1.73; pyruvate kinase, 0.36; lactate dehydrogenase (fructose-1,6-diphosphate activated), 0.55; pyruvate dehydrogenase (coenzyme A acetylating), 0.53; hydrogenase, 3.3; phosphotransacetylase, 0.55; acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (coenzyme A acetylating), 0.15; ethanol dehydrogenase, 1.57; and acetate kinase, 1.50. All pyridine nucleotide-linked oxidoreductases examined were specific for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, except ethanol dehydrogenase which displayed both nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide- and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-linked activities. Fermentation product balances and cell growth yields supported the glucose catabolic pathway described. Representative balanced end product yields (in moles per mole of glucose fermented) were: ethanol, 0.94; l-lactate, 0.84; acetate, 0.20; CO(2), 1.31; and H(2), 0.50. Growth yields of 16.4 g of cells per mole of glucose were demonstrated. Both growth and end product yields varied significantly in accordance with the specific medium composition and incubation time.

Bacteria↗

62Zn-EDDA: a radiopharmaceutical for pancreatic functional diagnosis.

As Zn is closely associated with the exocrine and endocrine functions of the pancreas, exploitation of Zn metabolism for anatomical and functional diagnosis was conceived, namely with the recent availability of positron emitting 62Zn (t1/2 = 9 h). In the present paper, response changes in Zn biodistribution (mice) and Zn excretion through the pancreatic duct (rats) due to the stimulation of gastro-intestinal hormones like secretin, CCK-PZ (exocrine stimulation) and glucose (endocrine stimulation) were studied. Under these stimuli, the pancreatic secretion of radioactive Zn through cannulated pancreatic duct showed increased Zn secretion only under the CCK-PZ effect, 3 h post 65Zn (t1/2 = 270 d) injection. Tissue biodistribution in mice pre-injected with 65Zn showed pancreas specific decrease of radioactive Zn whenever a gastro-intestinal hormone was post-administered, whereas the glucose effect was negligible. Thus, the effective mobilization of the injected radioactive Zn, upon exocrine stimulation, represented by CCK-PZ, favored the exploration of a functional study of the pancreas with the positron computed tomograph (PCT) using short lived nuclide labeled 62Zn-EDDA in dog. Evidence of the applicability of this system in regional function studies of the pancreas was obtained. Demonstration of Zn participation in the exocrine function of the pancreas in-vivo holds considerable promise for diagnosis of pancreatic diseases.

Animals↗

[Study of the role of nicotinamide coenzymes in the regulation of glyceroneogenesis from pyruvate in rat epididymis fat tissue].

The paper deals with a regulatory effect of the redox state of nicotinamide coenzymes on glyceroneogenesis in the epididymal fatty tissues involving incorporation of [2-14C] pyruvate into synthetized de novo blood glucose, glycerol and fatty acids of triacyglycerines. Large values of the NAD+/NADH and NADP+/NADPH ratios in cytoplasm and mitochondria promote a high rate of lipogenesis and glucose oxidation processes, which is pronounced in a more intense 14C incorporation into fatty acids than in triacylglycerol glycerols. A decrease in the NAD+/NADH ratio and an increase in the reducing ability of NAD-pairs under fasting intensify glyceroneogenesis in the fatty tissue. The incorporation of [14C] pyruvate into blood glucose in 3.6 times as high, the radioactivity of fatty acids lowers. Nicotinamide administered to animals after fastening inhibits glyceroneogenesis in the fatty tissue, lowering considerably the incorporation of [14C] pyruvate into triacylglycerol glycerol and blood glucose.

Adipose Tissue↗

Glucose uptake in vivo in skeletal muscles of insulin-injected chicks.

Glucose uptake across the plasma membrane in animal cells plays a crucial role in whole-body glucose homeostasis. Insulin-stimulated glucose transport activity in vivo in several tissues was estimated using the 2-deoxy-D-[1-(3)H]glucose ([(3)H]2DG) uptake determination method. A tracer dose of [(3)H]2DG was injected intravenously into 8-day-old chicks (Gallus gallus) administered simultaneously or previously with porcine insulin (40 microg/kg BW). After 10 or 20 min, several major tissues, including skeletal and cardiac muscle, were sampled and their 2-deoxy-D-[1-(3)H]glucose 6-phosphate content analyzed. Plasma glucose concentration and [(3)H]2DG radioactivity were lowered by insulin within 20 min of [(3)H]2DG administration, while the plasma [(3)H]2DG/glucose ratio was not significantly different between chicks injected with insulin and their control counterparts. A marked uptake of 2DG was observed in cardiac tissue and brain, followed by kidney and skeletal muscles. In skeletal muscles, insulin increased the 2DG uptake in soleus, extensor digitorum longus and pectoralis superficialis muscles. On the other hand, no significant increases in insulin-induced 2DG uptake were detected in cardiac muscle or adipose tissue compared to controls. The results show that glucose transport across the plasma membrane in vivo in most skeletal muscles tested, but not cardiac muscle, was increased by insulin administration to chicks. These findings suggest that an insulin-responsive glucose transport mechanism is present in chickens, even though they intrinsically lack GLUT4 homologous gene, the insulin-responsive glucose transporter in mammals.

Adipose Tissue↗

The effects of hypoglycin on glucose metabolism in the rat. A kinetic study in vivo and [U-14C,2-3H]glucose.

1. The kinetics of glucose metabolism were evaluated in rats deprived of food 15-21 h after the administration of hypoglycaemic doses of hypoglycin (100 mg/kg body wt.) by following changes in the specific radioactivities of 14C and 3H in blood glucose after an intravenous dose of [U-14C,2-3H]glucose [Katz, Rostami & Dunn (1974) Biochem. J. 142, 161-170]. 2. During this time, recycling of glucose through the Cori cycle was virtually abolished, the rate of irreversible disposal of glucose and its total body mass were both decreased by about 70%, whereas there was little effect on the mean transit time for glucose. 3. It was concluded that hypoglycaemia is due to inhibition of gluconeogenesis.

Animals↗

Nonenzymatically glucosylated albumin. In vitro preparation and isolation from normal human serum.

Incubation of human serum with D-[6-3H]glucose resulted in the gradual accumulation of radioactivity in acid-precipitable material. Upon chromatography on Sephadex G-200, radioactivity was found associated with each of the major molecular weight classes of serum protein. Purified human serum albumin was also glucosylated in vitro upon exposure to D-[6-3H]glucose in phosphate-buffered saline. The glucosylated and unmodified albumins were separated by ion exchange chromatography. The physiological significance of these observations in vitro was confirmed by the isolation and quantitation of glucosylated albumin from normal human serum. Glucosylated albumin represents approximately 6 to 15% of total serum albumin in normal adults. The post-translational modification appears to occur by a nonenzymatic process analogous to that responsible for glucosylation of hemoglobin A to hemoglobin AIc, i.e. through Schiff base formation and Amadori rearrangement to a ketoamine derivative.

Blood Glucose↗

ENTRY OF GLUCOSE CARBON INTO AMINO ACIDS OF RAT BRAIN AND LIVER IN VIVO AFTER INJECTION OF UNIFORMLY 14-C-LABELLED GLUCOSE.

1. Measurements were made of the rate of incorporation of (14)C from uniformly (14)C-labelled glucose into individual amino acids of rat brain and liver. 2. At 2.5 min. after intravenous injection of uniformly (14)C-labelled glucose, about 30% of the total radioactivity in the brain was present in the five amino acids studied. At 30 min. after subcutaneous injection the distribution of (14)C in amino acids was: in brain, alanine 2%, gamma-aminobutyrate 4%, aspartate 9%, glutamine 9% and glutamate 37% (total 69%); in liver, alanine 3%, aspartate 2.6%, glutamine 5.3% and glutamate 5.2% (total 18%). About 1% of the total radioactivity was in serine and glycine. 3. In both organs the specific radioactivity of alanine was initially higher than that of the other amino acids examined. The specific radioactivity of gamma-aminobutyrate in the brain was about the same as or higher than that of glutamate. 4. Amino acids of the rat brain were separated into ;free' and ;bound' fractions from brain dispersions in saline (or sucrose) media. Definite differences in the specific activities of the ;bound' and ;free' forms were not apparent.

Alanine↗

The metabolism of lipids in mouse pancreatic islets. The biosynthesis of triacylglycerols and phospholipids.

The rate of incorporation of [U-14C]glucose and [u-14C]palmitate into the lipids of the pancreatic islets of obese-hyperglycaemic mice was examined. The following main observations were made. 1. Both glucose and palmitate were incorporated into lipids in the islets. The fraction of glucose utilized for lipid biosynthesis was calculated to be 3-6% of that oxidized at high and low glucose concentrations, whereas palmitate was about equally divided between oxidation and esterification into lipids. 2. Glucose was primarily incorporated from sn-glycerol 3-phosphate. Of the total glucose carbon incorporated, only 2-4% was recovered as fatty acids. 3. A major portion of both glucose and palmitate was incorporated into phospholipids, whereas 10-30% went into triacylglycerols, depending on the extracellular glucose concentrations. 4. An increase in the glucose concentration from 3.5 to 17 mM caused a twofold increase in the rate of glucose incorporation into triacylglycerols and a fivefold increase in the rate of incorporation into phospholipids. Similar effects were also obtained with normal mouse islets. Palmitate was also preferentially directed into phospholipids by an increased glucose concentration. 5. Islets pre-labelled with radioactive palmitate showed a decrease in triacylglycerol radioactivity when they were subsequently incubated in the absence of exogenous sources of energy. 6. Mannoheptulose inhibited the rate of glucose incorporation into phospholipids, whereas omission of Ca2+ and adrenaline left phospholipid biosynthesis unimpaired. The results suggest that pancreatic B-cells have the capacity to store and utilize energy in the form of triacylglycerols. A stimulation of the B-cells by glucose is followed by an increased rate of phospholipid biosynthesis. However, this does not seem to be directly linked to the release of secretory granules.

Animals↗

Demonstration of a metabolically active glucose-6-phosphate pool in the lumen of liver microsomal vesicles.

Glucose-6-phosphate transport was investigated in rat or human liver microsomal vesicles using rapid filtration and light-scattering methods. Upon addition of glucose-6-phosphate, rat liver microsomes accumulated the radioactive tracer, reaching a steady-state level of uptake. In this phase, the majority of the accumulated tracer was glucose, but a significant intraluminal glucose-6-phosphate pool could also be observed. The extent of the intravesicular glucose pool was proportional with glucose-6-phosphatase activity. The relative size of the intravesicular glucose-6-phosphate pool (irrespective of the concentration of the extravesicular concentration of added glucose-6-phosphate) expressed as the apparent intravesicular space of the hexose phosphate was inversely dependent on glucose-6-phosphatase activity. The increase of hydrolysis by elevating the extravesicular glucose-6-phosphate concentration or temperature resulted in lower apparent intravesicular glucose-6-phosphate spaces and, thus, in a higher transmembrane gradient of glucose-6-phosphate concentrations. In contrast, inhibition of glucose-6-phosphate hydrolysis by vanadate, inactivation of glucose-6-phosphatase by acidic pH, or genetically determined low or absent glucose-6-phosphatase activity in human hepatic microsomes of patients suffering from glycogen storage disease type 1a led to relatively high intravesicular glucose-6-phosphate levels. Glucose-6-phosphate transport investigated by light-scattering technique resulted in similar traces in control and vanadate-treated rat microsomes as well as in microsomes from human patients with glycogen storage disease type 1a. It is concluded that liver microsomes take up glucose-6-phosphate, constituting a pool directly accessible to intraluminal glucose-6-phosphatase activity. In addition, normal glucose-6-phosphate uptake can take place in the absence of the glucose-6-phosphatase enzyme protein, confirming the existence of separate transport proteins.

Animals↗

Nonenzymatic glycosylation of glomerular basement membrane.

To test the hypothesis that increased nonenzymaticc glycosylation contributes to the microangiopathic sequelae of diabetes, we examined the interaction of glucose with basement membranes in vivo and in vitro. The level of nonenzymatic glycosylation, determined by hydroxymethylfurfuraldehyde (HMF) generation, in glomerular basement membrane (GMB) collagen purified from rats with streptozotocin diabetes was significantly greater than that of nondiabetic GMB. Incubation of purified rat GBM and lens capsule basement membrane with [14C]-glucose in vitro resulted in the incorporation of [14C] into acid precipitable radioactivity in a reaction that was dependent on time, temperature, and glucose concentration. Glucose-dependent nonenzymatic glycosylation of GBM in vitro was documented by measurement of HMF generation after incubation with unlabeled glucose. These results provide direct experimental evidence that hyperglycemia, via nonenzymatic glycosylation, modifies the chemistry of proteins specifically involved in diabetic glomerulosclerosis.

Amino Acids↗

[Metabolism of C(14)-glucose by Moniezia expansa and Diphyllobothrium mansoni]

The adult worms of cestodes, Moniezia expansa and Diphyllobothrium mansoni employed in this experiment. The worms were divided into three portions, i.e. immature, mature and gravid proglottids, and each proglottids were incubated in a certain incubation period, and the glucose uptake rate, total CO2 production rate, tissue concentration and their radioactivities were employed as previous reports(Rim et al., 1965). 1. The glucose uptake rate by M. expansa was a mean value of 6.46 +/- 1.23 micro M/hr/g of wet wt. and the rate by D. mansoni was a mean value of 18.8 +/- 0.8 micro M/hr/g of wet wt. The higher rates were observed in the mature proglottid of M. expansa and in the immature proglottid of D. mansoni. 2. The total CO2 production rates by the worms averaged 14.0 +/- 2.37 micro M/hr/g in M. expansa and 17.51 +/- 1.54 micro M/hr/g of wet wt. The relative specific activities of respiratory CO2(R.S.A CO2) averaged 22.2 +/- 5.15 percent in M. expansa and 54.2 +/- 2.2 per cent in D. mansoni. In the both worms, the higher values were obtained in the mature proglottids. 3. Therefore, the average value of 8.84 +/- 2.66 per cent of glucose utilized by M. expansa and 8.23 +/- 0.50 percent of glucose utilized by D. mansoni from the medium glucose was oxidized into respiratory CO2. 4. The tissue concentrations of glycogen were a mean of 2.21 +/- 0.46 percent per gram of wet wt. in M. expansa and 7.56 +/- 1.24 percent per gram of wet wt. in D. mansoni. The higher concentration of glycogen was observed in the gravid proglottids of M. expansa, however the gravid proglottids of D. mansoni showed lower concentration of glycogen than the other proglottids. 5. The turnover rate of glycogen pool yielded with a mean of 0.04 +/- 0.01 miligram per hour per gram of wet wt. of M. expansa, whereas a mean of 1.66 +/- 0.46 miligram per hour per gram wet wt. of D. mansoni. 6. Therefore, a mean value of 2.58 +/- 0.93 per cent(R.G.D gly) of glucose utilized by M. expansa and 53.6 +/- 1.4 percent by D. mansoni was incorproated into the glycogen. 7. These data account for that at least 11.42 per cent of the utilized glucose by M. expansa and 61.83 per cent of the utilized glucose by D. mansoni participated in furnishing the oxidation into respiratory CO2 and the synthetic process into glycogen.

Journal Article↗

Amino acids in ram testicular fluid and semen and their metabolism by spermatozoa.

1. The testis of the ram secretes considerable amounts of amino acids (200mumoles/day) into the fluid collected from the efferent ducts. The principal amino acid in this testicular fluid is glutamate, which is present in concentrations about eight times those in testicular lymph or in blood from the internal spermatic vein. 2. The concentration of glutamate in seminal plasma from the tail of the epididymis is about ten times that in testicular fluid, and, though glutamate is the major amino acid in ejaculated seminal plasma, its concentration is less than in epididymal plasma. 3. After the intravenous infusion of [U-(14)C]glucose, labelled glutamate was found in the testicular fluid. Radioactivity was also detected in alanine, glycine, serine plus glutamine and aspartate. Alanine had the highest specific activity, about 50% of the specific activity of blood glucose. 4. When [U-(14)C]glutamate was infused, the specific activity of glutamate in testicular fluid was only about 2% that in the blood plasma. 5. Testicular and ejaculated ram spermatozoa oxidized both [U-(14)C]glutamate and [U-(14)C]leucine to a small extent, but neither substrate altered the respiration from endogenous levels. 6. No radioactivity was detected in testicular spermatozoal protein after incubation with [U-(14)C]glutamate or [U-(14)C]leucine. Small amounts of radioactivity were detected in protein from ejaculated ram spermatozoa after incubation with [U-(14)C]glutamate. 7. The carbon of [U-(14)C]glucose was incorporated into amino acids by testicular spermatozoa; most of the radioactivity occurred in glutamate.

Journal Article↗