Nutritional aspects of amino acid metabolism

Abstract

1. Measurements of the concentrations of amino acids in the plasma of blood from the portal vein and hepatic vein in the livers of rats made diabetic with streptozotocin or alloxan and starved for 1 d were compared with similar measurements from normal rats starved for 1 d.2. The concentrations of many of the amino acids in the blood plasma were lower in the streptozotocin diabetic rats than in the normal animal while the liver concentrations tended to be increased. This suggests that there is enhanced concentration of these amino acids by the liver in diabetics, as is also found in starvation, which is probably due to factors other than the direct absence of insulin.3. The direction of flow of the groups of amino acids into and out of the liver was unchanged in the diabetic compared with the normal rat except that the output of tryptophan was abolished, and that of the branched-chain group was abolished in alloxan diabetes though apparently enhanced in streptozotocin diabetes. The rates of movement of amino acids in both directions appeared to be increased in the streptozotocin diabetic animals.4. The changed amino acid pattern in the alloxan diabetic rats was to some extent similar to that of the streptozotocin diabetic rats but the changes were more difficult to interpret, perhaps because of side-effects of alloxan on tissues including liver.