The effects of in vitro ageing on the composition of the intracellular free amino acid pool of human diploid fibroblasts

Exogenous amino acids stimulate net muscle protein synthesis in the elderly

We have investigated the response of amino acid transport and protein synthesis in healthy elderly individuals (age 71+/-2 yr) to the stimulatory effect of increased amino acid availability. Muscle protein synthesis and breakdown, and amino acid transport were measured in the postabsorptive state and during the intravenous infusion of an amino acid mixture. Muscle-free amino acid kinetics were calculated by means of a three compartment model using data obtained by femoral arterio-venous catheterization and muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis during the infusion of stable isotope tracers of amino acids. In addition, muscle protein fractional synthetic rate (FSR) was measured. Peripheral amino acid infusion significantly increased amino acid delivery to the leg, amino acid transport, and muscle protein synthesis when measured either with the three compartment model (P < 0.05) or with the traditional precursor-product approach (FSR increased from 0. 0474+/-0.0054 to 0.0940+/-0.0143%/h, P < 0.05). Because protein breakdown did not change during amino acid infusion, a positive net balance of amino acids across the muscle was achieved. We conclude that, although muscle mass is decreased in the elderly, muscle protein anabolism can nonetheless be stimulated by increased amino acid availability. We thus hypothesize that muscle mass could be better maintained with an increased intake of protein or amino acids.

Further studies on the induction of omicron-pyrocatechuic acid carboxylyase in aging cultures of Aspergillus ornatus

The phenomenon of enzyme induction in aging cultures of Aspergillus ornatus was examined under various conditions of culture and induction. Under standard conditions of culture on buffered-defined medium and 6 h induction with 0.1% tryptophan, the tryptophan-inducible specific activity of the enzyme omicron-pyrocatechuic acid carboxylyase decreased 50% with age while the uninduced level of that enzyme remained constant. Increasing the induction time to 10 h allowed the specific activity of the enzyme from older mats to reach the level of the younger mats, which were not affected by increased exposure time to tryptophan. This effect was also achieved by increasing the concentration of the inducer to 1.0%. The effectual concentration of tryptophan, that body of inducer that actually entered the cell, did not change with age, but the incorporation of labeled tryptophan into de novo protein synthesis was depressed from 23 to 35% in older mats.

Higher eukaryotic aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases in physiologic and pathologic states

The aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases play a dual role in cell metabolism by synthesizing aminoacyl-tRNAs and an odd dinucleotide diadenosine-5', 5''-P1, P4-tetraphosphate which appears to be involved in DNA replication and the control of cell proliferation. This review is a synthesis of recent results on the structure, genetics, cell biology, physiology, role in neoplasia, and role in autoimmune myositis of the higher eukaryotic aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases.

Neutral amino acid transport and in vitro aging

Human fibroblasts possess five distinguishable systems for amino acid transport. Initial rates for three of these decline with in vitro age. The decline most noticeably affects the L system, whose rate for L-phenylalanine transport at 10 microM declines by 44% between the 27th and 39th population doubling levels. Accumulation of L-phenylalanine is similarly affected. The insensitivity of older cells to reduction of the amino acid concentration in culture medium casts doubt on possible interpretation of the transport decline as a causal factor in limiting growth.

The effects of in vitro ageing on the exopeptidases of human diploid fibroblasts

Six exopeptidases present in human diploid fibroblasts were identified by separation on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and their activity profiles against 17 dipeptides, two tripeptides and L-leucine-p-nitroanilide determined. No differences in relative activity or in the electrophoretic patterns of any of the six exopeptidases were detected with ageing. Aminoacylarylamidase activity assayed spectrophotometrically showed significantly increased activity in the middle age-group cells as opposed to the enzyme isolated from young and old cells. Heat-inactivation studies using the same substrate suggested the possibility of an increased proportion of heat-labile enzyme in the old cells but interpretation of the data was difficult because of the complex nature of the inactivation curves obtained. Overall, the results tended to refute the hypothesis that age-related changes in the free amino acid pool of human diploid fibroblasts were associated with significant alterations in the activities of cellular exopeptidases.