|
|
||||||||
Departments of Medicine and Chemistry, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont 05405
Carbon (C) in the 1-position of leucine is released as
CO2 with the decarboxylation of
-ketoisocaproate (KIC).
Carbon in the 2-position of leucine undergoes several additional
metabolic steps before entering the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle in
the 1-position of acetyl-CoA, where it can be released as
CO2 or be incorporated into other compounds. This study
examined the metabolic fate of C in the 2-position of leucine. We
infused 11 healthy subjects with [1-13C]leucine and
[1,2-13C2]leucine for 3.5-4 h to measure
leucine kinetics and the oxidation of the tracers from enrichments of
13C in blood and expired CO2. The fraction of
leucine infused that was oxidized (fox) was used to define
the degree of recovery of the 13C label(s) for each tracer.
As expected, leucine appearance (means ± SE) did not differ
between tracers (13C1: 92.1 ± 3.1 vs.
13C2: 89.2 ± 3.2 µmol · kg
1 · h
1) when
calculated using plasma leucine enrichments as an index of
intracellular enrichment. A small (3%) but significant
(P = 0.048) difference between tracers was found when
KIC was used to calculate leucine appearance
(13C1: 118.0 ± 4.1 vs.
13C2: 114.4 ± 4.5 µmol · kg
1 · h
1). The
value of fox was 14 ± 1% for
[1,2-13C2]leucine and was lower than the
fox for [1-13C]leucine (19 ± 1%). From
the fox data, we calculated that the recovery of the
2-13C label in breath CO2 was 58 ± 6%
relative to the 1-13C label. These findings show that,
although a majority of the 2-13C label of leucine is
recovered in breath CO2, a significant percentage (~42%)
is retained in the body, presumably by transfer to other compounds, via
TCA exchange reactions.
leucine oxidation; leucine kinetics
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
M. J. Toth, C. K. Sites, and D. E. Matthews Role of ovarian hormones in the regulation of protein metabolism in women: effects of menopausal status and hormone replacement therapy Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, September 1, 2006; 291(3): E639 - E646. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. J. Toth, D. E. Matthews, R. P. Tracy, and M. J. Previs Age-related differences in skeletal muscle protein synthesis: relation to markers of immune activation Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab, May 1, 2005; 288(5): E883 - E891. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
H. Hasegawa, T. Matsukawa, Y. Shinohara, and T. Hashimoto Kinetics of Sequential Metabolism from D-Leucine to L-Leucine via alpha -Ketoisocaproic Acid in Rat Drug Metab. Dispos., December 1, 2002; 30(12): 1436 - 1440. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G van Hall, M Sacchetti, and G Radegran Whole body and leg acetate kinetics at rest, during exercise and recovery in humans J. Physiol., July 1, 2002; 542(1): 263 - 272. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Visit Other APS Journals Online |