Ketone-body metabolism after partial hepatectomy in the rat

31P NMR measurements of the effects of unsaturated fatty acids on cellular phospholipid metabolism

31P NMR measurements on extracts prepared from a variety of cultured mammalian cell lines and primary rat hepatocytes have shown changes in the levels of several phospholipid metabolites after incubation of cells with unsaturated fatty acids. These data suggest a possible link between the accumulation of neutral lipid and the changes in phospholipid metabolite concentrations that have been observed in some tumor cells and other rapidly growing tissues such as the regenerating liver and mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes.

Gene expression of enzymes regulating ketogenesis and fatty acid metabolism in regenerating rat liver

Levels of mRNA for mitochondrial 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) synthase, carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT I) and carnitine palmitoyltransferase II (CPT II), fatty acid synthase (FAS) and actin were analysed during liver regeneration. mRNA levels for mitochondrial HMG-CoA synthase decreased rapidly, reaching a minimum 12 h after partial hepatectomy and returning to normal at 24-36 h. In contrast, CPT I, CPT II and FAS mRNAs increased throughout the period examined. Expression of actin increased significantly during regeneration. Levels of mRNA for mitochondrial HMG-CoA synthase also decreased as a result of surgical stress, although the effect of hepatectomy was much greater. We determined the levels of mitochondrial HMG-CoA synthase using specific antibodies. The amount of protein rapidly decreased, although less markedly than the corresponding mRNA levels. These results show that the decrease described in ketogenesis in partially hepatectomized rats correlated with the decrease in the expression of mitochondrial HMG-CoA synthase, suggesting that this enzyme may also be a control point in ketogenesis in the regenerating liver, as it is in normal and diabetic rats.

Nitrogen metabolism during liver regeneration

Nitrogen metabolism was investigated in regenerating liver-bearing rats through the following parameters: (1) liver aminoacid content, (2) plasma and urinary urea and creatinine, (3) plasma and urinary oxypurines, uric acid and allantoin. Two groups of aminoacids were considered: (1) the essential aminoacids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, isoleucine, lysine, leucine, valine, arginine, histidine and methionine); (2) the non-essential aminoacids (aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid, glutamine, alanine, glycine, serine, threonine and proline). Some of the first group tended to decrease, and those of the second group to increase, immediately after partial hepatectomy. Few ketogenic aminoacids are probably oxidized to provide energy. The flux of aminoacids for gluconeogenesis is minutely controlled, therefore, those of the second group being spared at first and set aside for protein synthesis, which increases on the second and third days after partial hepatectomy. Plasma and urinary urea, oxypurines, uric acid and allantoin did not show any significant variations after partial hepatectomy. The conclusion emerging from the present research is that, although variations in aminoacid composition and metabolism and in purine nucleotide metabolism have been demonstrated to occur in the regenerating liver, the overall nitrogen catabolism, as reflected by the principal end products, does not undergo substantial variations. The remaining liver is able to fulfil this function.

Sequential changes in alanine metabolism following partial hepatectomy in the rat

After partial hepatectomy, the liver undergoes an array of metabolic changes until regeneration is complete. Since carbons derived from alanine can be incorporated into most metabolic pools, we studied the metabolism of (14)C-labeled alanine during the early phase of regeneration. Sham operated (controls) and partially hepatectomized rats weighing about 200 g each were injected intraperitoneally with 1-[U-(14)C]alanine at 9, 18, and 36 hours after surgery. The animals were killed 2 hours after injection. Compared to the controls, alanine oxidation was markedly depressed (P < 0.05) in the 9- and 18-hour groups, but was restored in the 36-hour group. The specific activity of plasma glucose and hepatic glycogen was elevated 9 and 18 hours after partial hepatectomy. There was a corresponding increase in the activities of fructose-1,6-diphosphatase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. Hepatic protein specific activity increased by 30, 74, and 120%, respectively 9, 18, and 36 hours after partial hepatectomy. Hepatic fatty acids followed a similar pattern. In a separate set of experiments, the distribution of radioactivity in glutamic acid was measured. The results showed that alanine carbons enter the citric acid cycle primarily via the acetyl CoA pathway in the controls, but via the oxaloacetate pathway in partially hepatectomized rats. The results demonstrate significant changes in the activities of metabolic pathways of alanine in the early phase of hepatic regeneration.

Acute phase responses after acute liver injury by partial hepatectomy in rats as indicators of cytokine release

The purpose of this study was to support the hypothesis that cytokines such as interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-6 are released by macrophages or monocytes within 1 to 2 hr of phagocytosis of circulating, gut-derived bacterial lipopolysaccharide translocated by acute liver injury. Time courses of fever, neutrophilia and low blood-zinc levels generally attributed to cytokines were quantified after partial (67%) hepatectomy of rats under ether anesthesia. These acute phase responses in hepatectomized rats were compared with those after intravenous injection of exogenous endotoxin and human natural interleukin-1. Fever commenced 30 min after interleukin-1 injection, 4 hr after exogenous lipopolysaccharide injection and 6 hr after 67% liver resection. Similarly, rectal temperatures were significantly elevated in recipient rats 30 min after intravenous administration of donor plasma from hepatectomized animals, indicating that cytokines, not lipopolysaccharide, elicited the febrile response. Neutrophilia was present 1, 2, and 4 hr after interleukin-1 injection, lipopolysaccharide injection and hepatectomy, respectively. Furthermore, the reduction in plasma zinc, which depends on cellular metallothionein synthesis, occurred 4 hr after interleukin-1 administration and 6 hr after lipopolysaccharide injection or partial hepatectomy. Donor plasma from hepatectomized rats also elicited neutrophilia at 1 hr and low blood-zinc levels 4 hr after injection in recipient animals. The timing of these responses, just as for the fever, implies that cytokines and not lipopolysaccharide in the donated plasma elicited the neutrophilia and hypozincemia. Evidence was reviewed that interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-6 function as hepatotrophic factors and have been identified in the circulation of humans with liver damage.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Protein synthesis in liver and extra-hepatic tissues after partial hepatectomy

Effects of partial hepatectomy on protein synthesis were defined in liver and extra-hepatic tissues of the mature rat. Studies were performed at 24 h and 48 h after surgery in the absence of the dietary input. Protein accretion in the regenerating liver preceded mitosis, but was accompanied by increases in RNA content and fractional rates of protein synthesis (ks). A positive relationship existed between protein-synthetic capacity and ks over the period of study. Increases in ks also bore a positive relationship with increases in translational efficiency. Extra-hepatic tissues showing decreased rates of protein synthesis after liver resection included kidney, striated muscles and brain. Effects were observed mainly at 24 h after surgery and resulted from decreased translational efficiency. Partial hepatectomy increased ks in diaphragm and tibia at both 24 h and 48 h after surgery. In diaphragm, there was net protein accretion, and, as in liver, increases in ks were due to increases in both protein-synthetic capacity and efficiency.

Interaction of ketosis and liver regeneration in the rat

Monoacetoacetin, the monoglyceride of acetoacetate, was investigated as a nutritional support for the regenerating liver. Following partial hepatectomy, rats were either fed an oral diet ad libitum or administered by total parenteral feeding glucose alone, monoacetoacetin-glucose mixture, or lipid emulsion-glucose for the nonprotein calories. Five rats from each treatment were killed at 6-hr intervals beginning 12 hr after partial hepatectomy and ending at 72 hr. The number of cells synthesizing DNA and the number of cells in mitosis were compared. Rats fed orally or infused with glucose alone or with lipid emulsion had similar parameters throughout. Rats infused with monoacetoacetin had approximately double the number of cells in mitosis and DNA synthesis compared to the other treatments. This stimulation by monoacetoacetin persisted 72 hr. It was concluded from the data that acetoacetate was the agent responsible for increased DNA synthesis and mitosis, but the mechanism for the stimulation was not identified.

Ketone-body metabolism after surgical stress or partial hepatectomy. Evidence for decreased ketogenesis and a site of control distal to carnitine palmitoyltransferase I

Rats were subjected to laparotomy, or laparotomy and partial hepatectomy, at 0-48 h before administration of water or medium-chain-length triacylglycerol, having been starved post-operatively. Functional hepatectomies were performed at intervals after the intragastric load. Blood ketone-body concentrations after medium-chain triacylglycerol administration and/or functional hepatectomy of these rats were compared with values obtained in starved control rats. Decreased ketonaemia in response to medium-chain triacylglycerol was observed for up to 48 h after partial hepatectomy and at 1 and 2 h after laparotomy, but not at 24 or 48 h after laparotomy. Rates of ketone-body clearance after functional hepatectomy were unaffected by prior laparotomy or partial hepatectomy. Ketonaemia after medium-chain-triacylglycerol administration was only partially blocked by inhibition of CPT I (carnitine palmitoyltransferase I). The results demonstrate sustained effects of partial hepatectomy and short-term effects of surgical stress to decrease ketonaemia via inhibition of ketogenesis at site(s) distal to CPT I.

Altered interactions between lipogenesis and fatty acid oxidation in regenerating rat liver

The concentrations of malonyl-CoA, citrate, ketone bodies and long-chain acylcarnitine were measured in freeze-clamped liver samples from fed or starved normal, partially hepatectomized or sham-operated rats. These parameters were used in conjunction with measurements of the concentration of plasma non-esterified fatty acids and the rates of hepatic lipogenesis to obtain correlations between rates of fatty acid delivery to the liver, lipogenesis and fatty acid oxidation to ketone bodies and CO2. These correlations indicated that the development of fatty liver after partial hepatectomy is due to an increased partitioning of long-chain acyl-CoA towards acylglycerol synthesis and away from acylcarnitine formation. However, this did not appear to be due to an altered relationship between hepatic malonyl-CoA concentration and acylcarnitine formation. For any concentration of long-chain acylcarnitine, the concentrations of both hepatic and blood ketone bodies were significantly lower in partially hepatectomized rats than in normal or sham-operated animals. This indicated that a lower proportion of the product of beta-oxidation was used for ketone-body formation and more for citrate synthesis in the regenerating liver, especially during the first 24 h after resection. This inference was supported by the changes in hepatic citrate concentrations observed. The high rates of lipogenesis that occurred in the liver remnant were accompanied by an altered relationship between lipogenic rate and hepatic malonyl-CoA concentration, such that much lower concentrations of malonyl-CoA were associated with any given rate of lipogenesis. These adaptations are discussed in relation to the requirements by the remnant for high rates of energy formation through the tricarboxylic acid cycle during the first 24 h after resection, and the possibility that cycling between fatty acid oxidation and synthesis may occur to a greater degree in regenerating liver.

Hepatic pyruvate metabolism during liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy in the rat

Hepatic pyruvate kinase (PK) and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDHa) specific activities were decreased after partial hepatectomy or sham operation. The decreases were more marked and sustained after partial hepatectomy. These activity changes ensure that hepatic carbon flux after partial hepatectomy is predominantly in the direction of gluconeogenesis. The decrease in PK specific activity observed after partial hepatectomy was associated with a decreased PK activation ratio (activity measured at 0.15 mM PEP: activity measured at 5.0 mM PEP), and hepatic concentrations of PEP were increased. The low hepatic PDHa activity observed at the first day after partial hepatectomy occurred concomitantly with an increased fatty acid concentration. PDHa activity increased after inhibition of lipolysis. The results indicate that carbohydrate utilization is unimportant for hepatic energy supply during liver regeneration. There was no evidence that the control of PK or PDH in the regenerative liver after partial hepatectomy differed from that observed in the liver of the unoperated rat.