Journal of Lipid Research, Vol 32, 2019-2024, Copyright © 1991 by Lipid Research, Inc.
Use of [15N]glycine in the measurement of apolipoprotein B synthesis in perfused rat liver
JB Marsh and MR Diffenderfer
Atherosclerosis Center, Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Rat livers were perfused with [15N]glycine and unlabeled sodium benzoate by
the single-pass technique via the portal vein or in retrograde fashion via
the inferior vena cava. Perfusate [15N]hippurate enrichment was
significantly greater than that of hepatic free glycine from 15 to 90 min,
regardless of the direction of the perfusion. This result implies that
differential labeling by periportal versus perivenous hepatocytes is not
likely. When fasted animals were compared to those fed a chow diet or a
sucrose-enriched diet, the labeling ratio of medium hippurate/hepatic free
glycine decreased by only 9% in spite of a 5-fold decrease in the
concentration of intrahepatic free glycine. Administration of nembutal to
the intact animal significantly increased the enrichment of medium
hippurate by 24% but did not affect the enrichment of the hepatic free
glycine. We conclude that the difference between hippurate and free glycine
enrichment is related to intracellular compartmentation of glycine
transport. We suggest that measurement of the enrichment of hippurate after
the administration of [15N]glycine with benzoate in intact animals or human
subjects can therefore be used to estimate the enrichment of the
intracellular precursor pool of glycine with a correction factor that does
not vary appreciably under fed or fasted conditions. When uniformly labeled
deuteroglycine was used as the tracer, enrichment of hepatic free glycine
was decreased fivefold compared with [15N]glycine. Isotopic enrichments of
apoBH and apoBL from the d less than 1.063 g/ml lipoprotein fraction
isolated from the perfusion medium between 30 and 90 min averaged 3.7 and
4.1% excess, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)