Fluxes and membrane transport of amino acids in rat liver under different protein diets

Abstract

The aim of the present work was to evaluate in vivo the role of the transport step in hepatic amino acid metabolism. To vary hepatic utilization of amino acids, rats were adapted to diets containing various concentrations of casein (5, 15, and 60%). In rats fed 5 or 15% casein diets, Gln and Glu were released by the liver, and there was a significant uptake of Ala. Hepatic fluxes of amino acids increased considerably after adaptation to high-casein diet (up to 1.55 mumol.min-1.g liver-1 for Ala), because of the rise in afferent concentrations as well as enhanced uptake percentage (peaking at 60-75% for most glucogenic amino acids). Adaptation to a high-protein diet led to induction of not only system A but also of most of the other transport systems (Gly, anionic, T, y+, and to a lesser extent system N); only systems ASC and L were unchanged. The study of amino acid repartition between liver and plasma with different diets indicates that transport could modulate utilization of Ala, Ser, Thr, Gly, Gln, and Asp. For Arg and Asn, present in very low concentrations in liver under any condition, the transport step should be the major locus of control of their metabolism. For amino acids chiefly transported by nonconcentrative systems, such as aromatic amino acids, cellular metabolism could also be limited by the transport process. In conclusion, during adaptation to a high-protein diet, there is apparently a coordinated adaptation of amino acid transport and of their intracellular metabolism. For some amino acids, induction of catabolic enzymes seems greater than that of transport, so that the transport step may play an important role in control of metabolic fluxes. For example, concentration of amino acids such as Thr may be markedly depressed in rats adapted to a high-protein diet.