Effect of insulin on the synthesis of sarcoplasmic and ribosomal proteins of muscle

Gender differences in diaphragmatic metabolic properties of the adult Sprague-Dawley rat

Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (> or = 180 days old) develop an obesity-exacerbated insulin resistance in contrast with female animals of the same strain. Given the fact the maintenance of muscle mass requires an adequate supply of insulin and active insulin receptors, we postulated that gender differences might exist in both protein content and metabolic properties of skeletal and cardiac muscle in adult Sprague-Dawley rats. Therefore, to test this hypothesis, we examined activities of bioenergetic enzymes and total protein content in the diaphragm, the heart and the plantaris muscle in 12-month-old male and female animals. Mean (+/- SD) body weights of male animals were significantly (P < 0.05) greater than female animals (598 +/- 8 vs. 362 +/- 19 g) and the diaphragm weight/body weight ratio was significantly lower in males compared to females (2.36 +/- 0.05 vs. 3.02 +/- 0.13 mg/g). The activities of isocitrate dehydrogenase (NADP-specific) and succinate dehydrogenase were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in male animals compared to females in both the crural and costal regions of the diaphragm, the heart, and the plantaris muscle. In contrast, no gender differences (P > 0.05) existed in lactate dehydrogenase activity in any of the muscles studied. Finally, muscle protein concentration was significantly higher in female animals when compared to males (P < 0.05) in all muscles studied except the heart. These data support the hypothesis that gender differences exist for adult Sprague-Dawley rats in general and specific protein content of the diaphragm, locomotor muscles, and the heart.

Effect of insulin on protein synthesis and degradation in skeletal muscle after exercise

This study examined whether insulin stimulation of protein synthesis and inhibition of protein degradation is enhanced after exercise. The isolated perfused rat hindquarter preparation was used to evaluate net protein breakdown, myofibrillar protein degradation, and protein synthesis. Thirty minutes after treadmill exercise of high and moderate intensity, rates of tyrosine release were increased by 58 and 25%, respectively. Insulin at 75 microU/ml had no effect on these increases after intense exercise; however, 20,000 microU/ml of insulin totally inhibited this increase. Cycloheximide increased the tyrosine release in both control and exercised rat muscle. It also abolished the difference between them, suggesting that the increase in tyrosine release after exercise is caused by an inhibition of protein synthesis. Phenylalanine incorporation into protein was marginally depressed (22%, P = NS) in the white gastrocnemius muscle after intense exercise. Insulin at 200 microU/ml stimulated protein synthesis in these rats, but no more than it did in a nonexercised control group. Failure to observe a greater effect of insulin on protein metabolism was also noted when rat muscle was studied 150 min after intense exercise and after contractions induced by electrical stimulation of the sciatic nerve. These findings suggest that after exercise or electrically induced contractions the enhanced ability of insulin to stimulate hexose and amino acid transport is not paralleled by an increase in its ability to stimulate protein synthesis or inhibit protein degradation.

Effect of intravenous insulin treatment on in vivo whole body leucine kinetics and oxygen consumption in insulin-deprived type I diabetic patients

In vivo leucine metabolism was studied after an overnight fast in nine type I diabetic patients and nine healthy control subjects using L-[1-13C] leucine as a tracer. In the insulin-deprived state, leucine flux (reflecting proteolysis), leucine oxidation, and plasma leucine concentrations were higher in the diabetic patients than in the control subjects (P less than .001). In 4 of the 9 insulin-deprived diabetic patients, a four-hour intravenous insulin treatment decreased plasma glucose and leucine concentrations and leucine flux, but failed to decrease leucine oxidation. In the remaining 5 of the 9 diabetic patients, uninterrupted insulin treatment prior to the study and a seven-hour intravenous insulin treatment during the study period decreased not only the concentrations of plasma glucose and leucine and leucine flux, but also leucine oxidation (P less than .01). In all 9 diabetic patients the nonoxidative portion of leucine flux (reflecting protein synthesis) decreased during insulin treatment (P less than .01), but this decrease was lower than that of leucine flux (reflecting proteolysis), and therefore protein was conserved during insulin treatment. We conclude that the effect of insulin on proteolysis (reflected by leucine flux) is more rapid than its effect on leucine oxidation, but on aggressive insulin treatment accelerated leucine oxidation also was decreased in type I diabetic patients.

Effects of diabetes on protein synthesis in fast- and slow-twitch rat skeletal muscle

The effects of acute (2-day) and long-term (7-day) diabetes on rates of protein synthesis, peptide-chain initiation, and levels of RNA were examined in rat skeletal muscles that are known to have differing proportions of the three fiber types: fast-twitch white, fast-twitch red, and slow-twitch red. Short-term diabetes resulted in a 15% reduction in the level of RNA in all the muscles studied and an impairment in peptide-chain initiation in muscles with mixed fast-twitch fibers. In contrast, the soleus, a skeletal muscle with high proportions of slow-twitch red fibers, showed little impairment in initiation. When the muscles were perfused as a part of the hemicorpus preparation, addition of insulin to the medium caused a rapid reversal of the block in initiation in mixed fast-twitch muscles but had no effect in the soleus. The possible role of fatty acids in accounting for these differences is discussed. Long-term diabetes caused no further reduction in RNA, but resulted in the development of an additional impairment to protein synthesis that also affected the soleus and that was not corrected by perfusion with insulin. The defect resulting from long-term diabetes may involve elongation or termination reactions.

Synthesis rates of protein in the Langendorff-perfused rat heart in the presence and absence of insulin, and in the working heart

The synthesis rates of total heart protein and of sarcoplasmic and myofibrillar protein fractions have been determined by perfusion of isolated rat hearts with [(14)C]tyrosine at constant specific radioactivity. In hearts perfused without insulin, both myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic proteins were synthesized at a fractional rate of 10-11% per day. This corresponds to a half-life for synthesis of about 7 days. The effect of added insulin was to increase the rate of heart-protein synthesis to a half-life of 3-4 days. With hearts perfused via the left atrium and performing external work, there was a rise in the specific radioactivity of intracellular free tyrosine, and the half-life for synthesis of proteins was 3-4 days. The extent of labelling of individual myofibrillar proteins was estimated after polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis of solubilized myofibrils in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulphate. No particular protein showed an unusually high or low specific radioactivity after labelling in perfusion. Insulin caused a general increase in labelling of all the proteins analysed.

Effect of insulin on protein synthesis in skeletal muscle of an isolated perfused preparation of rat hemicorpus

A method for perfusion in vitro of a preparation of rat hemicorpus was developed for study of the metabolism of skeletal muscle. The preparation was stable during perfusion, as indicated by maintenance of ATP concentration, perfusion pressure, and oxygen consumption for up to 90 min. The perfused hemicorpus provided the following advantages for study of protein synthesis in skeletal muscle: (a) hormones and substrates reached the muscle cells through an intact capillary bed, and (b) the preparation included the psoas muscle, which was sufficiently large to allow measurements of intermediates in the pathway of protein synthesis and was readily homogenized for preparation of ribosomes and ribosomal subunits. Perfusion of psoas muscle from fasted rats with buffer containing glucose and insulin reduced the concentration of ribosomal subunits and increased phenylalanine incorporation as compared to perfusion with buffer containing glucose alone. In addition, the hormone increased glucose uptake from the perfusate and inhibited release of free fatty acids from the preparation. When the muscle was perfused with buffer that contained glucose and palmitate, the concentration of ribosomal subunits and phenylalanine incorporation were unchanged. Since fatty acid is known to stimulate protein synthesis in heart muscle, these results indicated that rates of protein synthesis in heart, but not in skeletal, muscle would be maintained during fasting or in diabetic animals by increased plasma concentration of fatty acid.