GLYCOLYSIS IN NORMAL AND NEPHROTIC RAT KIDNEY

Abstract

Experimental nephrosis was induced in rats by administering the aminonucleo side of puromycin, which inhibits protein synthesis in cell-free and whole-cell preparations.Slices of renal cortex from nephrotic rats incubated for 2 hours in Krebs–Ringer phosphate buffer with glucose as substrate accumulated two to three times more lactate and pyruvate than did slices from normal rats under aerobic but not under anaerobic conditions. Nephrotic cortex metabolizing endogenous substrate similarly accumulated three times as much pyruvate as normal cortex, but no accumulation of lactate occurred in either normal or nephrotic cortex in the absence of glucose. These changes were not observed in nephrotic medulla, nor were they accompanied by any change in oxygen consumption, glucose uptake, or glutamic–pyruvic transaminase activity. Decreased dry weight of the nephrotic slices was accompanied by a similar small decrease in their protein content. It is postulated that there is a decreased activity of enzymes metabolizing pyruvate in the cortex of aminonucleoside-treated rats.