Studies on the range of tissue protein synthesis in pigs: the effect of thyroid hormones

Abstract

1. The effects of thyroid hormones on the range of tissue protein synthesis in growing pigs using the constant infusion technique with [14c]leucine and [14C]lysine were studied.2. During a 6 h infusion, samples were taken from blood and, at the end of the infusion, from liver, pancreas, stomach, small and large intestines, kidney cortex, kidney medulla, muscle and skin.3. Lower relative specific radioactivities of free leucine and lysine in several tissues were observed in the hormone-treated group than in the untreated one.4. The range of protein synthesis rate and the daily amount of protein synthesized in tissues was higher in all tissues after application of thyroid hormones.5. Assuming that the organs analysed represented 70% of the total trichloroacetic acid-precipitable protein of the pig, the estimated range of daily protein synthesis was 251–490 and 312–880 g in untreated and hormone-treated pigs respectively.