Metabolism of Acetate to Amino Acids in Brains of Rats After Complete Hepatectomy

Abstract: The concentration of glutamine increases in the brain after hepatectomy. In the present studies the conversion of intravenously given ¹⁴C]acetate to ¹⁴C]glutamate and ¹⁴C]glutamine was studied in control rats and in rats at 6 h after complete hepatectomy. The incorporation of label into glutamate was only slightly inhibited, but the further incorporation into glutamine was greatly inhibited, after hepatectomy. These data, and previous data using ¹⁴C]glucose as precursor, indicate that synthesis of glutamine in brain is inhibited after hepatectomy, and suggest that its concentration must increase because degradation is inhibited to an even greater extent.