The catabolism of plasma glycoproteins in normal and injured rats

The catabolism of (14)C-labelled plasma glycoprotein in rats was studied after injecting homologous plasma protein labelled in the N-acetylglucosamine and sialic acid moieties. In normal animals the catabolism was approximately described by a four-compartment model. The fractional rate of catabolism of the plasma-protein amino sugar was found to be 0.0305hr.(-1), corresponding to the degradation of 2.75mumoles/hr. The (14)C label was eliminated from the animals largely as carbon dioxide with a small proportion appearing in the urine. Freely circulating amino sugars or glycopeptides did not appear in the plasma as a result of the catabolic processes, and there was no evidence that the protein-bound amino sugars were reutilized in biosynthetic processes. A study of the distribution of (14)C label in the carcasses of animals 24hr. after injection provided evidence that the gastrointestinal tract accounted for 25-38% of the total catabolic pool; the lungs, kidneys, spleen and liver also appeared to contribute to catabolism. Studies were conducted with rats that had been treated with turpentine to induce an inflammatory reaction; the results could not be analysed kinetically, since the metabolism of plasma proteins in these animals did not appear to be in a steady state. The injected plasma protein disappeared from the intravascular pool more quickly than in normal animals, but there were no significant differences in the rates of excretion of the (14)C label.