The effect of unilateral phrenicectomy on the rate of protein synthesis in rat diaphragm in vivo

The fractional rate of protein synthesis (ks) in the denervated rat-diaphragm has been measured in vivo by the continuous amino acid infusion technique at 1, 3, 5 and 10 days after nerve section, and compared with the rate determined in normal rats. Similar rates of protein synthesis, 14% per day, were found for both the left and right hemidiaphragms in the control animals. In the denervated rats, the rates of protein synthesis in the contralateral control hemidiaphragms were significantly increased as soon as 1 day after nerve section. This is considered to be evidence of a compensatory synthesis in the control tissues. In the denervated hemidiaphragm, the rate of protein synthesis had doubled by the third day after nerve section, but by the fifth day had fallen slightly to a value some 50% greater than that of the controls, and remained at this level for a further 5 days. Based on these measured values of protein synthetic rate, calculated estimates have been made of the rate of protein degradation necessary to account for the reported (Turner, L.V. and Manchester, K.L. (1972) Biochem. J. 128, 789-801) changes in mass of the denervated tissue. During the first three days after nerve section, the rate constant for degradation increased to more than twice the normal rate for skeletal muscle, and remained at this value throughout the peak of the hypertrophy.