The diurnal response of muscle and liver protein synthesis in vivo in meal-fed rats

1. The rate of protein synthesis in rat tissues was measured by constant intravenous infusion of (14)C]tyrosine. A modification has been developed for the method of calculating the rate of protein synthesis in individual tissues from the specific radioactivity of the free and protein-bound amino acid in tissue at the end of the infusion. This technique gives greater accuracy and allows a greater choice of labelled amino acids. The specific radioactivity of free tyrosine in plasma was used to calculate the plasma tyrosine flux, an index of the rate of protein synthesis in the whole body. 2. Young male Wistar rats were allowed access to food for only 4h in every 24h. The tyrosine flux and the rate of protein synthesis in liver and muscle at different periods of time after a single feed were estimated. 3. The tyrosine flux did not alter after feeding nor even after starvation for 48h. 4. The average fractional rate of protein synthesis in muscle was 7.2%/day, i.e. the proportion of the protein mass which is replaced each day. The rate rose after eating and declined during starvation for 48h. In addition the rate of muscle protein synthesis correlated with the growth rate of the rat. 5. In liver the average fractional rate of protein synthesis was 50%/day. There was no change in the rate after eating nor after starvation for 48h. In contrast with muscle this suggests that the changes in protein mass were accompanied by changes in the rate of protein breakdown rather than synthesis.