1. The activities of pyruvate dehydrogenase in rat lymphocytes and mouse macrophages are much lower than those of the key enzymes of glycolysis and glutaminolysis. However, the rates of utilization of pyruvate (at 2 mM), from the incubation medium, are not markedly lower than the rate of utilization of glucose by incubated lymphocytes or that of glutamine by incubated macrophages. This suggests...

BACKGROUND Carnitine acetyltransferase catalyzes the reversible conversion of acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) into acetylcarnitine. The aim of this study was to use the metabolic tracer hyperpolarized [2-(13)C]pyruvate with magnetic resonance spectroscopy to determine whether carnitine acetyltransferase facilitates carbohydrate oxidation in the heart. METHODS AND RESULTS Ex vivo, following hyperpolar...

Dichloroacetate (DCA), a stimulator of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, decreases lactate levels and peripheral resistance and increases cardiac output. This study was performed to examine the effects of DCA on exercise performance in humans. Eight healthy male volunteers (age 20–28 years) were tested by bicycle spiro-ergometry using a microprocessor-controlled gas analysis system after infu...

Battiprolu PK, Rodnick KJ. Dichloroacetate selectively improves cardiac function and metabolism in female and male rainbow trout. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 307: H1401–H1411, 2014. First published September 12, 2014; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00755.2013.— Cardiac tissue from female rainbow trout demonstrates a sex-specific preference for exogenous glucose and glycolysis, impaired Ca handling, a...

Background—The cause of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was investigated in humans and fawn hooded rats (FHR), a spontaneously pulmonary hypertensive strain. Methods and Results—Serial Doppler echocardiograms and cardiac catheterizations were performed in FHR and FHR/BN1, a consomic control that is genetically identical except for introgression of chromosome 1. PAH began after 20 weeks of...

BACKGROUND C9, a newly in silico-designed inhibitor of microtubule dynamics induces G2/M arrest culminating in apoptosis. Dichloroacetate (DCA) inhibits pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase, an enzyme that promotes pyruvate entry into mitochondria. The use of antitumor drugs targeting different cancer features can be a more effective way to overcome drug resistance. METHODS The influence of C9 (130 ...