Effect of cholesterol feeding and fasting on sterol synthesis in seventeen tissues of the rat

Rates of sterol synthesis were measured in 17 tissues of the rat, and the responsiveness of these rates to cholesterol feeding and to fasting was determined. The liver and gastrointestinal tract together account for 90% of synthetic activity of the whole body. After the rats had been fed cholesterol or fasted, liver synthesis was markedly decreased, whereas synthetic rates in all other organs tested were essentially unaffected (this conclusion applies to synthesis of cholesterol and of five other digitonin-precipitable tissue sterols). Consequently, the highest rate of cholesterogenesis in the cholesterol-fed or fasted rat is found in the gastrointestinal tract.     

Albumin and transferrin synthesis during development in the rat

In this study, the incorporation of [(14)C]leucine into albumin and transferrin in early rat foetuses, vitelline plus amniotic membranes, chorioallantoic placenta and perinatal rat liver slices was measured and used to detect and compare the rates of synthesis of the two proteins. Albumin synthesis was detected in the body of foetuses from 13 days gestation onwards. Transferrin synthesis was detected only after day 15. Transferrin synthesis was demonstrable in the membranes but not in the chorioallantoic placenta of all the animals investigated, i.e. from 13 to 19 days gestation. Synthesis of albumin and transferrin by the liver of near-term and postnatal animals was shown to correlate with published data on the parenchymal cell number/unit wet wt. of liver. Near-term foetuses synthesized relatively more transferrin than albumin when compared with 10-day postnatal animals. The serum concentrations of the two plasma proteins were also determined. These increased before term whereas the rate of synthesis of albumin and transferrin declined. Postnatally, plasma albumin concentration increased but transferrin concentration decreased, yet the rates of synthesis of both proteins by the liver increased with age. This lack of correlation between the rates of synthesis of the two proteins and their respective plasma concentrations could be explained in part by their increased stability after birth. There was also evidence that the liver haemopoietic cells took up transferrin although they do not synthesize the protein. Thus the decrease in this population of cells during development could also contribute to the discrepancy between liver synthesis and serum concentrations of transferrin.     

Distribution of transferrin synthesis in brain and other tissues in the rat

Levels of transferrin mRNA were measured by hybridization to transferrin cDNA in extracts from various areas of rat brain and other tissues. The highest concentrations of transferrin mRNA were found in the liver and the choroid plexus of the lateral and third ventricles. Lower concentrations were observed in the medulla and thalamus, choroid plexus of the fourth ventricle, cortex, hypothalamus, cerebellum, pituitary, testis, placenta, stomach, spleen, kidney, muscle, and heart. Yolk sac, small intestine, and adrenal glands did not contain detectable transferrin mRNA levels. The size of transferrin mRNA was the same in liver, brain, and testis. Upon incubation of choroid plexus pieces with [14C]leucine in vitro, about 4% of the radioactive protein secreted into the medium was found to be transferrin. Together with previous data (Dickson, P.W., Howlett, G.J., and Schreiber, G. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 8214-8219; Dickson, P.W., Aldred, A.R., Marley, P.D., Bannister, D., and Schreiber (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 3475-3478) the obtained data suggest that the choroid plexus plays a role in maintenance of homeostasis in the microenvironment of the central nervous system by synthesizing and secreting plasma proteins.     

The acute effect of ethanol on albumin, fibrinogen and transferrin synthesis in the rat

Decrease of absolute synthesis of albumin and fractional synthesis of transferrin was observed within 3h of orally administering ethanol (4ml/kg) to rats maintained on a 40%-protein diet. In contrast, absolute synthesis of fibrinogen was unaffected. With this ethanol intake, the changes in protein synthesis occurred without significant ultrastructural change in the liver. When the ethanol intake was greater (8ml/kg) ultrastructural disruption was observed. However, both the decrease of plasma protein synthesis and the ultrastructural alterations could be prevented by the simultaneous administration of a mixture of amino acids with the ethanol. The latter findings, not reported hitherto, suggest that ethanol may interfere with hepatic plasma protein synthesis and ultrastructure more through a disturbance of amino acid metabolism than through direct physical damage to the hepatocyte. An Appendix outlines the deconvolutional method used to correct for losses of labelled protein in the period during which measurements were made. The principle may also be applied to labelled plasma urea. The details of the calculations are given in a supplementary paper that has been deposited as Supplementary Publication 50007 at the National Lending Library for Science and Technology, Boston Spa, Yorks. LS23 7BQ, U.K., from whom copies can be obtained on the terms indicated in Biochem. J. (1972) 126, 5.     

The regulation of hepatic protein synthesis during fasting in the rat

We have studied translational control in the model of 48 h of fasting in the rat. Our initial observations showed a paradoxical increase in ribosomal protein S6 (rpS6) phosphorylation and a decrease in eukaryotic initiation factor 2alpha (eIF2alpha) phosphorylation. These effects, which would favor an increase in protein synthesis, could be attributed to increased circulating concentrations of branched-chain amino acids in fasting. To determine what mechanisms might account for decreased hepatic translation in fasting, we examined the cap binding complex. eIF4E-bound 4E-BP1 did not increase. However, eIF4E-bound eIF4G and total cellular eIF4G were profoundly decreased in fasted liver. eIF4G mRNA levels were not lower after fasting. Based on the hypothesis that decreased eIF4G translation might account for the reduced eIF4G content, we fractionated ribosomes by sucrose density centrifugation. Immunoblotting for rpS6 showed modest polysomal disaggregation upon fasting. PCR analysis of polysome profiles revealed that a spectrum of mRNAs undergo different translational regulation in the fasted state. In particular, eIF4G was minimally affected by fasting. This indicated that reduced eIF4G abundance in fasting may be a function of its stability, whereas its recovery upon refeeding is necessarily independent of its own involvement in the cap binding complex. Western immunoblotting of polysome fractions showed that phosphorylated rpS6 was disproportionately present in translating polysomes in fed and fasted animals, consistent with a role in translational control. However, the translation of rpS8, an mRNA with a 5'-oligopyrimidine tract, did not coincide with rpS6 phosphorylation, thus dissociating rpS6 phosphorylation from the translational control of this subset of mRNAs.     

Effect of fasting on urinary excretion of water and nitrogen in the rat

Rats housed in metabolic cages undergoing 48 h fasting showed reduced daily intake of drinking water and increased urinary volume. Both the daily amount of urinary creatinine and urea excreted were diminished with fasting, while that of ammonia was augmented. Besides demonstrating metabolic water loss under fasting, results suggest that ammonia derived from glutamine in the kidney, rather than urea formed in the liver, is the main nitrogenous catabolic product of amino acids in fasting.     

Stimulation of rat placental cell DNA synthesis by transferrin

The purpose of the present investigation was to evaluate the in vitro requirements for rat placental cell DNA synthesis. A cell line established from the labyrinth region of midgestation rat chorioallantoic placentas was used to examine the actions of various agents. Transferrin was found to stimulate rat placental cell DNA synthesis and cell proliferation. The effects of transferrin on rat placental cell growth paralleled those observed with fetal bovine serum. Rat placental cells were responsive to both rat and human transferrin. Iron-saturated (holo-) transferrin was a more potent stimulator of rat placental cell DNA synthesis than was iron-free (apo-) transferrin. Addition of insulin, epidermal growth factor, or insulin-like growth factor-II to serum-free medium supplemented with rat transferrin did not significantly enhance rat placental cell DNA synthesis beyond that observed with only transferrin. The results demonstrate that a population of cells exists within the rat chorioallantoic placenta that are highly responsive to transferrin.     

Effect of phenylephrine on pyruvate dehydrogenase in fasting rat livers

Previous estimates of flux through the pyruvate-dehydrogenase complex were made by measuring 14CO2 generated from oxidation of [1-14C]pyruvate, assuming a 1:1 stoichiometry. However, this method fails to discriminate between 14CO2 produced from pyruvate dehydrogenase and 14CO2 generated from phospho-enolpyruvate carboxykinase and citric-acid-cycle dehydrogenases. While some previous reports have attempted to correct for the additional 14CO2 production by comparing 14CO2 generated by [1-14C]pyruvate with [2-14C]pyruvate or [3-14C]pyruvate, the estimates are flawed by failure to determine the radioactivity and distribution of the 14C label in the oxalacetate pool. The present method circumvents these problems by utilizing [1,4-14C]succinate to radiolabel the oxalacetate pool and by directly measuring the specific radioactivity of malate. The results demonstrate that flux through the pyruvate-dehydrogenase complex is negligible compared to the other reactions which generate 14CO2 from [1-14C]lactate in the fasted state. Phenylephrine did not significantly alter this result in the fasted state. However, 14CO2 production via the pyruvate-dehydrogenase complex is large (approximately 11.5 nmol.min-1.mg mitochondrial protein-1) compared to 14CO2 production via phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and citric-acid-cycle dehydrogenases (approximately 6.4 nmol.min-1.mg-1) when the pyruvate-dehydrogenase complex is activated, in the fed state with 1 mM dichloroacetate.     

Transport of iron and transferrin synthesis by the seminiferous epithelium of the rat in vivo

The transport of radioactive iron across the seminiferous tubules was analyzed in vivo by light-microscope quantitative radioautography. At 5 min after a single intratesticular injection of 55Fe-transferrin, a strong labeling of the basal aspect of the seminiferous epithelium was observed. Between 30 min and 2 h, the labeling on the basal aspect of the seminiferous epithelium decreased. This decrease was accompanied by a substantial increase of the radioautographic reaction over the cellular elements in the adluminal compartment. These results were consistent with the demonstration of 59Fe associated with meiotic spermatocytes and differentiating spermatids isolated by velocity sedimentation from testes injected with 59Fe-transferrin. Furthermore, after a single intratesticular injection of 59Fe-labeled human transferrin, radiolabeled rat transferrin was immunoprecipitated from homogenates of isolated tubules with a specific antibody and appeared as a single radioactive band on fluorographs of urea/polyacrylamide gels. Similarly, 59Fe-labeled rat transferrin but not 125I-transferrin was immunoprecipitated from rete testis fluids of testes infused with either 59Fe- or 125I-labeled human transferrin. Finally, the synthesis of testicular transferrin in vivo was demonstrated in fluorographs of immunoprecipitated transferrin after an intratesticular injection of 35S-methionine in rats whose livers were excluded from the general circulation by ligation of both the hepatic artery and the portal vein. Thus, our results demonstrated a unidirectional system of iron transport from the basal compartment of the seminiferous epithelium to the germ cells in the adluminal compartment involving two distinct transferrins, i.e., a serum transferrin and a testicular transferrin synthesized by the seminiferous epithelium.     

The effect of cortisol on the synthesis of rat plasma albumin, fibrinogen and transferrin

A decrease of absolute synthesis of albumin, no change in that of fibrinogen and an increased fractional synthesis of transferrin were observed 3h after intraperitoneal administration of a pharmacological dose of 5 mg of cortisol to 220g rats in the post-absorptive state and previously kept on a diet with 40% protein. The concentration in liver of total free amino acids was practically unchanged at this time. Intraperitoneal administration of a mixture of amino acids with the cortisol raised this concentration and was accompanied by an almost complete de-repression of the synthesis of albumin, with no real effect on that of fibrinogen. In considerable contrast, in rats studied at 24h after intraperitoneal administration of cortisol, and who had been fed once in the interim (but who had received no amino acids intraperitoneally), there was a marked increase in the absolute synthesis of albumin and fibrinogen, with an increase in fractional synthesis that was less proportionately but still very significant and which included transferrin. The amino acid concentrations had risen above the supplemented values at 3h but not as much proportionately as the fractional synthesis rates, and of course not as much as the absolute synthesis rates, of albumin and fibrinogen. These time-dependent effects of cortisol suggest to us that our studies resolve the apparently conflicting results of the effect of cortisol on the synthesis of albumin reported by others.     

Phenotype-dependent synthesis of transferrin receptor in rat alveolar epithelial cell monolayers

The iron carrier protein transferrin plays a prominent antioxidant and anti-bacterial role in the lower respiratory tract and is present at elevated concentrations in lung epithelial lining fluid relative to plasma. The level of transferrin receptor synthesis in primary cultures of rat alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) was investigated. Transferrin receptor was found to be synthesized early in AEC cultures with the alveolar type II cell-like phenotype. Cell-surface receptor localization was attenuated upon apparent transdifferentiation to the alveolar type I cell-like phenotype later in culture. Binding of (125)I-labeled transferrin to the receptor indicated that surface and total cellular transferrin receptor levels were decreased in the type I-like cells. Inclusion of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) in culture media (10 ng/ml) resulted in retention of transferrin receptor localized to the basolateral surface. Transferrin-receptor-specific internalization of (59)Fe-transferrin was also limited to the basolateral surface of KGF-treated monolayers. These data suggest that alveolar type II (but not type I) cells express functional transferrin receptor in adult rat alveolar epithelium.