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Application of the metabolic control theory to the study of the dynamics of substrate cycles.

Substrate cycles are ubiquitous structures of the cellular metabolism (e.g. Krebs cycle, fatty acids beta-oxydation cycles, etc...). Moiety-conserved cycles (e.g. adenine nucleotides and NADH/NAD, etc...) are also important. The role played by such cycles in the metabolism and its regulation is not clearly understood so far. However, it was shown that these cycles can generate multistationarity (bistability), irreversible transitions, enhancement of sensitivity, temporal oscillations and chaotic motions (Hervagault & Canu, 1987; Hervagault & Cimino, 1989; Reich & Sel'kov, 1981; Ricard & Soulié, 1982). [formula: see text] Fig. 1: Scheme of the open binary substrate cycle under study. The substrate S is converted into P with a net rate v2. Substrate P is converted in turn into S with a net rate v3. Step v2 is inhibited by excess of the substrate, S. In addition, the cycle operates under open conditions, that is zero-order input of S at rates alpha 0(v1) and first order outputs of S and P at rates alpha S and alpha P(v4), respectively. The metabolic control theory (see also Fell, 1990), which shows how a metabolic network reacts to small perturbations in the vicinity of a steady state, and is formulated with the so-called "control coefficients", was applied to such a cycle in order to get a better knowledge on the importance of each step at the regulatory point of view. The behaviour of a binary substrate cycle (fig. 1) in which one of the enzymes may be subjected to inhibition by excess of its substrate (v2) was studied theoretically.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Models, Biological

Substrate cycles in metabolic regulation and in heat generation.

1. The presence of substrate cycles in tissues has been demonstrated by direct isotope methods in recent years. This demonstration has provided the impetus for a reappraisal of the roles of substrate cycling in metabolic regulation and in heat production. These aspects of substrate cycling are discussed in this paper. The relationship between near-equilibrium reactions and substrate cycles is emphasized, since this provides a basis for the derivation of a function describing in precise quantitative terms the factors governing the amplification provided by substrate cycles in metabolic regulation. Some examples of the roles of substrate cycles in providing sensitivity in metabolic regulation are described. The importance of substrate cycling in heat generation in the flight muscle of the bumble-bee and in brown adipose tissue is discussed in detail. 2. We point out that the two possible roles of cycling, heat production and amplification, are intimately linked so that they must be discussed together. It is proposed that variable rates of substrate cycling may be possible so that, for short periods of time. sensitivity can be maximal without excessive heat generation. Variable rates over the long term may be involved in weight control, and the control of such variability in cycling rates may be impaired in obese subjects. Finally, the possibilities that substrate cycles provide explanations for the specific dynamic action of food and for alcoholic and accidental hypothermia are raised.

Adipose Tissue

Steady-state properties of a model ternary substrate cycle: theoretical predictions.

Numerous ternary substrate cycles are metabolically operative in vivo. The relative concentrations of the interconverted substrates are generally correlated with different physiological states. These cycles often include reversible and/or substrate-inhibited enzymic steps. The switch between one steady state (metabolic state) and another may be the consequence of either the effect of an exogeneous metabolite or signal, or the alteration of a cycle internal parameter. The interpretation of results obtained with currently designed experiments on substrate cycles seldom take into account the very dynamic and regulatory properties inherent in the cyclic and often autocatalytic nature of the pathway. In the present report, the various dynamic properties of a model ternary substrate cycle, bounded by moiety conservation, are investigated. Three situations with increasing complexity are considered: (i) the three enzymes are michaelian and catalyse irreversible steps; (ii) one of the enzymic steps is reversible; and (iii) one step is subjected to a destabilizing factor, i.e. inhibition by excess of substrate. The behavior(s) of the whole cycle is mainly controlled by four parameters, that is, ST, the total concentration of the substrate pool, and the three enzyme maximal velocities, VMi (i = 1,2,3). As ST (= S1 + S2 + S3) is constant, the Si steady-state concentrations (stable or not) can be represented in barycentric coordinates in a triangle (simplex). This convenient representation allows us to predict the different states of the system when one enzyme maximal activity is varied. The steady-state concentration dependencies as a function of one or several parameters may be either monostable (possibility of zero-order ultrasensitivity) or bistable (with or without reversible transitions). The physiological and experimental relevances of these observations are emphasized.

Enzyme Stability

Substrate cycles: their metabolic, energetic and thermic consequences in man.

The role of substrate cycles in metabolic control was first indicated over ten years ago, but the recent interest in such cycles has developed from the direct demonstration by isotopic techniques of their existence in various tissues. I propose that substrate cycles form part of a logical series of biochemical mechanisms that exist to increase the sensitivity of non-equilibrium reactions to changes in concentrations of metabolic regulators. The possible importance of such cycles for provision of precise metabolic regulation in the tissues of the normal subject and the trained athlete is proposed. Furthermore, cycling may provide a mechanism by which hormones can change the magnitude of response in a tissue to a given metabolic signal, without interfering in the biochemistry of the basic control mechanism. It is, however, possible to extend the role of cycling to heat generation and thus to controlled energy loss by an organism. Heat generation by substrate cycles may be important as an acute mechanism for maintaining the body temperature in man in response to a sudden decrease in the environmental temperature; alcoholic hypothermia would be explained by inhibition of substrate cycling in the liver, and accidental hypothermia in the elderly could be explained by decreased capacity of substrate cycles with age. If heat generated by the cycles is rapidly lost to the environment, the expenditure of energy to maintain this heat loss could explain, in part, the physiological phenomena of the thermic response to food and the oxygen debt which is always observed after exercise. Finally, the energy expended in these ways could be part of a general biochemical mechanism for maintenance of the correct body weight; a decrease in the capacity of substrate cycles might be one factor involved in the development of obesity.

Adenosine Triphosphate

Fructose-6-phosphate substrate cycling and hormonal regulation of gluconeogenesis in vivo.

The possible role of the hepatic fructose-6-phosphate substrate cycle (phosphofructokinase, fructose-1,6-diphosphatase) in the rapid hormonal regulation of gluconeogenesis was investigated in vivo in fasted normal and adrenalectomized rats after administration of [3-3H, U-14C]- or [3-3H, 6-14C]glucose. The plasma glucose 3H/14C ratio was used as an index of substrate cycling because the amount of 3H loss from liver hexose phosphates is determined by the extent of cycling. PFK and FDPase activities limit 3H loss during gluconeogenesis and glycolysis, respectively. Glucagon-stimulated hepatic glucose production is always accompanied by increased substrate cycling, i.e., increased FDPase and PFK activities. The high PFK activity may be a secondary event due possibly to elevated cellular fructose-6-phosphate levels. Decreased substrate cycling, i.e., lowered FDPase activity, always accompanies the depressed hepatic glucose production that occurs during hyperglycemia. Glucagon has no effect on substrate cycling in adrenalectomized rats that are insensitive to the hormone. The in vivo experiments presented provide evidence, although indirect, that glucagon administration results in changes in the fructose-6-phosphate substrate cycle in a living animal. Whether these changes are primary regulatory events or occur secondarily to hormone actions elsewhere is not known.

Adrenal Glands

Fructose-6-phosphate substrate cycling and glucose and insulin regulation of gluconeogenesis in vivo.

The question whether glucose or insulin regulates gluconeogenesis by effecting changes in the fructose-6-phosphate (F-6-P) substrate cycle (phosphofructokinase (PFK), fructose-1,6-diphosphatase (FDPase)) was investigated in vivo in fasted normal rats using [3-3H,U-14C]- or [3-3H,6-14C]glucose. The plasma glucose 3H/14C ratio was used as an index of substrate cycling because 3H loss from the liver hexose phosphate pool is limited by the activities of PFK and FDPase during gluconeogenesis and glycolysis, respectively. The 3H/14C ratio was corrected where necessary for glucose or insulin-induced changes in reincorporation of 14C from C-6 to C-1-3 of plasma glucose. A glucose infusion producing hyperglycemia and insulinemia was accompanied by decreased hepatic glucose production and diminished F-6-P substrate cycling, i.e., decreased FDPase activity. When insulin was infused along with glucose to produce high plasma insulin levels and avoid hypo- or hyperglycemia, the 3H/14C decay rate did not change, suggesting that the hormone does not influence basal rates of gluconeogenesis or PFK or FDPase activities. These in vivo results suggest that increased blood glucose levels inhibit gluconeogenesis and depress F-6-P substrate cycling. Whether these cycle changes constitute primary regulatory actions of glucose or occur secondarily to other metabolic events resulting from excess hexose (e.g., increased glycogen synthetase activity) cannot now be concluded.

Animals

On the analysis of substrate cycles in large metabolic systems.

The simultaneous operation of paired, opposing reactions (substrate cycles) or parallel reactions (dual pathways) with seeming wastage of ATP is widespread in cellular metabolism. Analysis of such "futile" pathways has hitherto been limited to loci with only two or three interconnecting fluxes. We introduce here a method that allows straightforward analysis of more complex systems. The method involves the linear superposition of "fundamental" modes, one or more of which may be energetically wasteful. Decomposition of a flux pattern into such modes allows computation of the amount of free energy "wasted" at any locus. Appropriate normalizations of energy wastage yield a number of indices useful for assessing the energetic impact of futile pathways on the cell and for comparing the degree of regulation of substrate cycles or dual pathways under different metabolic conditions. This approach is applied to steady-state flux data obtained in the protozoan Tetrahymena pyriformis and in isolated rat hepatocytes under a variety of conditions.

Animals

Neuronal regulation of substrate cycle between glucose 6-phosphate and glucose in brown adipose tissues of cold-exposed mice.

The increase in both glucose 6-phosphatase and hexokinase activities in brown adipose tissues of cold-exposed mice probably relates to thermogenesis by the substrate cycle between glucose 6-phosphate and glucose (Watanabe et al.: Anatomical Record 219:39-44, 1987). To clarify the factors causing the simultaneous increase, we examined biochemically the effects of uni- or bilateral surgical denervation of brown adipose tissues, of adrenalectomy, or of streptozotocin injection on the increase in the two activities in the tissues of cold-exposed mice. Further, the effects of denervation on the increase were also examined histochemically. The simultaneous increase in the two activities was inhibited in the denervated tissues of cold-exposed animals in biochemical and histochemical experiments. However, the increase in the activities was not inhibited in the tissues of animals exposed to cold after adrenalectomy or streptozotocin injection. The results suggest strongly that the activation of the substrate cycle in brown adipose tissues of cold-exposed mice is caused by a transmitter released from sympathetic nerve endings, probably norepinephrine.

Adipose Tissue, Brown

A formula for quantifying the effects of substrate cycles (futile cycles) on metabolic regulation. Its application to glucose futile cycle in liver as studied by glucose-6-phosphatase/glucokinase determinations.

Substrate cycles (SC) are formed by a 'forward pathway' (FP) and a 'backward pathway' (BP), the difference between FP and BP forming the 'metabolic flux' (MF) through the route of which the cycle is part. SC modulate regulatory effects, i.e. amplify or reduce the % change in MF compared to the % change in FP and BP, thus affecting the sensitivity to regulatory factors, including hormones. A formula is given to calculate (with an approximation of +/- 0.5) the 'flux response index' (FRI), i.e. the factor by which the % change in FP plus the % change in BP must be multiplied to obtain the % change in metabolic flux, when FP and BP undergo opposite, non-unidirectional changes (as is often the case in metabolic regulation). The formula is: FRI = [( FP + BP)/(FP-BP)]/2. By this formula we evaluated the hepatic activities of glucose-6-phosphatase and glucokinase (which roughly reflect hepatic glucose production and uptake, respectively), i.e. the two enzymes that catalyze the cycle between glucose-6-phosphate (glucose-6-P) and glucose. Based on data obtained in normal, nonobese diabetic and obese diabetic subjects as well as in normal, streptozotocin-diabetic, and obese diabetic (ob/ob) mice, we found that FRI was reduced in non-obese diabetic humans and animals whereas it was increased in obese-diabetic humans and mice, compared to normal controls. Thus, diabetes without obesity decreases, and obesity with diabetes increases, the sensitivity of the glucose-6-P/glucose cycle to regulatory agents.

Animals

Measurement of the rates of acetyl-CoA hydrolysis and synthesis from acetate in rat hepatocytes and the role of these fluxes in substrate cycling.

1. Acetyl-CoA hydrolysis, acetyl-CoA synthesis from acetate and several related fluxes were measured in rat hepatocytes. 2. In contrast with acetyl-CoA hydrolysis, most of the acetyl-CoA synthesis from acetate occurred in the mitochondria. 3. Acetyl-CoA hydrolysis was not significantly affected by 24 h starvation or (-)-hydroxycitrate. 4. In the cytoplasm there was a net flux of acetyl-CoA to acetate, and substrate cycling between acetate and acetyl-CoA in this compartment was very low, accounting for less than 0.1% of the total heat production by the animal. 5. A larger cycle, involving mitochondrial and cytoplasmic acetate and acetyl-CoA, may operate in fed animals, but would account for only approx 1% of total heat production. 6. It is proposed that the opposing fluxes of mitochondrial acetate utilization and cytoplasmic net acetate production may provide sensitivity, feedback and buffering, even when these fluxes are not linked to form a conventional substrate cycle.

Acetates

Irreversible transitions in a model substrate cycle. An experimental illustration.

In a previous article [(1987) J. Theor. Biol, 127, 439-449], the dynamic behavior of a simple substrate cycle, bounded by moiety conservation, and in which one of the two antagonist enzymes is subjected to a destabilizing factor, was investigated. Depending upon the control parameter chosen, that is, the total interconverted substrate concentration and the ratio of the interconverting enzyme maximal activities, monostability, reversible (hysteresis) and/or irreversible transitions could be observed. In the present work, we report experiments dealing with the moiety ATP/ADP interconverted by enzymes phosphofructokinase (PFK) and pyruvate kinase (PK). The cycle operates under conditions where (1) PFK is inhibited by excess of its substrate, ATP, and (2) both enzymes are working under zero-order kinetics for their respective cosubstrates F6P and PEP. Under conditions where the PK maximal activity is lower than the PFK optimal activity, irreversible transitions from a high ATP (resp. low ADP) steady-state concentration to a lower (resp. higher) one, are observed when varying the total moiety (ATP + ADP) concentration. A graphical interpretation of the observed behavior is given. Plausible biochemical consequences of this phenomenon are also emphasized.

Adenosine Diphosphate

Substrate cycling between glucose 6-phosphate and glycogen occurs in Schistosoma mansoni.

The regulation of glycogen metabolism in Schistosoma mansoni was studied in vitro with special emphasis on the possible occurrence of substrate ('futile') cycling. The partition of label between carbon atoms 1 and 6 of the glucose units in glycogen was analysed after the incubation of intact worm pairs in the presence of [6-14C]glucose. Under all conditions tested, more than 99% of the label in glycogen was still in the 6 position, demonstrating that glycogen was synthesised not via an indirect pathway involving 3-carbon units, but directly, from glucose. Increasing the glucose concentration stimulated glycogen synthase and decreased the activity of glycogen phosphorylase. An inverse relationship was shown between the actual glycogen content and the rate of glycogenesis. Substrate cycling occurred between glucose 6-phosphate and glycogen. Glucose was incorporated into glycogen during periods of net glycogen breakdown, and vice versa: glycogen degradation occurred during periods of net glycogen synthesis. Under our experimental conditions of net glycogen degradation, the rate of glycogen synthesis as a percentage of that of glycogen breakdown was dependent on the external glucose concentration and ranged from 5 to 68% for 2 to 100 mM glucose, respectively. The synthesis of glycogen during periods of net glycogen breakdown was shown to occur in each individual worm pair.

Animals

Sex difference in triglyceride/fatty acid substrate cycling of rat adipose tissue: indirect regulation by androgens.

Male Sprague-Dawley rats displayed significantly higher rates of triglyceride/fatty acid (TG/FFA) substrate cycling in subcutaneous, perigenital, and mesenteric white adipose tissue, compared to females. To investigate possible regulation via androgens and estrogens, male rats were treated with the androgen antagonist, cyproterone acetate (10 mg daily in subcutaneous injections), or estradiol polyphosphate (0.3 mg intramuscularly, given as a single dose). Estradiol treatment did not affect TG/FFA cycling. Treatment with cyproterone acetate significantly decreased TG/FFA cycling in perigenital (epididymal) tissue. This effect could however largely be ascribed to concomitant inhibition of food intake by cyproterone acetate. The effects of cyproterone acetate on the two axes of TG/FFA cycling (lipolysis and re-esterification) were further studied in vitro. Norepinephrine-stimulated glycerol release from perigenital adipocytes was inhibited, whereas activities of esterification enzymes (GPAT and PPH) was essentially unaffected. We conclude that androgens seem to affect TG/FFA cycling indirectly via the lipolytic axis.

Adipose Tissue

Antiobesity effects of dehydroepiandrosterone are mediated by futile substrate cycling in hepatocytes of BHE/cdb rats.

This study investigated the hypothesis that dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) functions as an antiobesity agent by promoting energy wastage via hepatic substrate cycling in prediabetic male BHE/cdb rats. Weanling BHE/cdb rats fed a 65% glucose diet were injected intraperitoneally daily with either DHEA (0.35 mol/kg body wt) or vehicle (1 mL/kg body wt) for 7 wk. The DHEA treatment significantly (P less than 0.05) reduced body weight gain. The DHEA-treated rats had epididymal and retroperitoneal fat pads that were 40% and 66% lighter, respectively, than those of control rats. The residual carcasses (i.e., minus fat pads, liver and ingesta) of DHEA-treated rats contained a significantly lower percentage of fat than those of control rats. The DHEA treatment significantly reduced fasting serum glucose and triglycerides without affecting total or HDL cholesterol. Isolated hepatocytes from DHEA-treated rats converted 2.5 times as much [U-14C]glucose to 14CO2 and one-half as much alanine to glucose as did hepatocytes from control rats. The DHEA treatment increased the specific activities of malic enzyme and lactate dehydrogenase 4.0- and 1.8-fold, respectively. Hepatocytes from DHEA-treated rats tended (P less than 0.08) to have lower phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activities than hepatocytes from control rats. These data suggest that DHEA treatment exerts some of its antiobesity and antidiabetic effects in prediabetic, lipemic BHE/cdb rats by promoting hepatic glucose oxidation and reducing gluconeogenesis.

Animals

An in vitro model showing different rates of substrate cycle for phosphofructokinases of Escherichia coli with different kinetic properties.

An in vitro assay model is introduced for the coupled assay of phosphofructokinase (PFK) and fructose-bisphosphatase. The model is applied to the study of three PFK of Escherichia coli: two isoenzymes, phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1) and phosphofructokinase-2 (PFK-2), and a mutant form of phosphofructokinase-2 (PFK-2*). Results show that for a variety of conditions the PFK-1/fructose-bisphosphatase pair gives the lowest and the PFK-2*/fructose-bisphosphatase pair the highest rates of substrate cycle, with the PFK-2/fructose-bisphosphatase pair in an intermediate position. The effects of variables such as maximum activity ratios and MgATP concentration were explored. The possible role of MgATP in decreasing the futile cycle of the PFK-2/fructose-bisphosphatase pair is described. The results are discussed in terms of possible metabolic consequences of PFK-2* and of predictions of the model to be tested in vivo.

Adenosine Triphosphate