The two main molecular species of sialic acid existing in nature are N-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5Ac) and N-glycolylneuraminic acid (Neu5Gc). Neu5Ac is abundant in mammalian brains and plays crucial roles in many neural functions. In contrast, Neu5Gc is present only at a trace level in vertebrate brains. The brain-specific suppression of Neu5Gc synthesis, which is a common feature in mammals, s...

Evidence was obtained for countercurrent diffusion of 14C-n-butanol in the rabbit renal cortex. After injection into the renal artery of perfused, isolated rabbit kidneys, concentrations of both 14C-butanol and tritiated water in the initial samples collected from the renal venous outflow exceeded those of 125I-albumin when the rate of perfusion was low. When flow was increased, the 125I-albumi...

The first branch point in gluconeogenesis occurs at the conversion of pyruvate to oxaloacetate. To determine the amount of lactate carbon reaching glucose via the direct pyruvate carboxylase pathway versus the tricarboxylic acid cycle, adult rat hepatocytes in primary culture were incubated for 2 h with one of the following isotopic substrates: [1-14C]lactate, [U-14C]lactate, or [1,2-14C]acetat...

PARLI, C. JOHN, LINDA C. BURNS, SHARADCHANDRA K. MEGHAL, KEITH KINNEBERG, ROBERT M. OWEAL, AND ROGER E. KOEPPE. Pyruvate metabolism in mammalian liver. Am. J. Physiol. 216(6) : 1525-l 533. 1969.-Labeling patterns were determined in I) liver and carcass protein glutamate of glucocorticoid-treated rats and fed or fasted rats, mice, rabbits, hamsters, and guinea pigs from pyruvate-Z-14C; 2) free l...

1. The effects of starvation and refeeding on the disposal of oral [14C]triolein between 14CO2 production and 14C-lipid accumulation in tissues of virgin rats, lactating rats and lactating rats with pups removed were studied. 2. Starvation (24 h) increased 14CO2 production in lactating rats and lactating rats with pups removed to values found in virgin rats. This increase was accompanied by dec...

The transport of [14C]pyridoxal-P and [14C]pyridoxine into isolated rat mitochondria was studied by centrifugal filtration. The incubation medium contained 20 mM 2-oxoglutarate and 10 mM inorganic phosphate to inhibit metabolism of pyridoxal-P by the mitochondria. The ratio of [14C]pyridoxine space to [3H]H2O space rapidly attained unity independent of the [14C]pyridoxine concentration in the m...

The activity of liver microsomal CYP2E1 is commonly measured as the rate of 5-chloro-2-benzoxazolone (chlorzoxazone) 6-hydroxylation, which requires separation of 6-hydroxychlorzoxazone and chlorzoxazone by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). In the present study, we describe a solvent extraction (non-HPLC) assay for measuring CYP2E1 activity, based on the 6-hydroxylation of [14C]chlorz...

Frogs have been used as an alternative model to study pain mechanisms because the simplicity of their nervous tissue and the phylogenetic aspect of this question. One of these models is the sciatic nerve transection (SNT), which mimics the clinical symptoms of "phantom limb", a condition that arises in humans after amputation or transverse spinal lesions. In mammals, the SNT increases glucose m...

Isolated hepatocytes prepared from sheep fed a basal diet (bromegrass hay-corn, 50:50 wt/ wt, as-fed basis) with or without urea were used to determine the effects of added ammonia (as NH4Cl) and propionate on the partitioning of C from 1.25 mM L-[1-14C]alanine between oxidation and gluconeogenesis, and the flux of 15N from 1.25 mM L-[15N]alanine to [14N15N]urea and [15N15N]urea. Hepatocyte sus...