Uptake and metabolism of exogenous uridine by superfused rat liver slices

Metabolism of uridine and determination of liver ribonucleic acid synthesis in developing and adult mice

The metabolism of [5-3H]uridine and the incorporation of the precursor into liver RNA was studied in developing (13-day-old) and adult (45-day-old) mice. Different time-courses of labelling and increased amounts of labelled catabolic products of uridine were found in liver and blood of developing mice compared with adult animals. This is suggested to be a consequence of enlarged metabolite pools resulting from a lower total amount of uracil-degrading enzymes in the developing mice. The labelling of the uracil nucleotides was decreased in the developing liver. However, in spite of a lower specific radioactivity of UTP, the RNA-specific radioactivity of developing liver was increased compared with adult liver. Also the labelling of liver RNA with [6-14C]orotic acid was found to be increased in developing mice, thus indicating a higher rate of RNA synthesis in these animals. A more pronounced difference in liver RNA labelling between the developing and the adult mice obtained with the use of [14C]orotic acid than with [3H]uridine may suggest that the de novo pathway, relative to the salvage pathways, is more important in developing than in adult liver.

Determination of UTP and ATP pool sizes in human tonsillar lymphocytes by using Escherichia coli RNA polymerase

The present paper describes a rapid, specific and sensitive method for quantitating ribonucleoside triphosphates (ATP and UTP) in cell extracts. The principle of the method is based on the synthesis of a ribonucleotide polymer in the presence of UTP, ATP and poly(dA-dT) as template. A method for calculation is also described, making the determination of UTP and ATP pool sizes in the cells possible under the same experimental conditions. The calculation takes into account the isotope dilution effect caused by the intracellular ATP. Our experiments show that the neutralized perchloric acid soluble fraction of human tonsillar lymphocytes contains no inhibitors for the RNA polymerase test. According to our results, this cell extract contains 80 pmol of UTP and 340 pmol of ATP per mug RNA.