Rapid activation of hepatic glutaminase in rats fed on a single high-protein meal

Effects of a high protein diet and liver disease in an in silico model of human ammonia metabolism

BACKGROUND

After proteolysis, the majority of released amino acids from dietary protein are transported to the liver for gluconeogenesis or to peripheral tissues where they are used for protein synthesis and eventually catabolized, producing ammonia as a byproduct. High ammonia levels in the brain are a major contributor to the decreased neural function that occurs in several pathological conditions such as hepatic encephalopathy when liver urea cycle function is compromised. Therefore, it is important to gain a deeper understanding of human ammonia metabolism. The objective of this study was to predict changes in blood ammonia levels resulting from alterations in dietary protein intake, from liver disease, or from partial loss of urea cycle function.

METHODS

A simple mathematical model was created using MATLAB SimBiology and data from published studies. Simulations were performed and results analyzed to determine steady state changes in ammonia levels resulting from varying dietary protein intake and varying liver enzyme activity levels to simulate liver disease. As a toxicity reference, viability was measured in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells following differentiation and ammonium chloride treatment.

RESULTS

Results from control simulations yielded steady state blood ammonia levels within normal physiological limits. Increasing dietary protein intake by 72% resulted in a 59% increase in blood ammonia levels. Simulations of liver cirrhosis increased blood ammonia levels by 41 to 130% depending upon the level of dietary protein intake. Simulations of heterozygous individuals carrying a loss of function allele of the urea cycle carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I (CPS1) gene resulted in more than a tripling of blood ammonia levels (from roughly 18 to 60 μM depending on dietary protein intake). The viability of differentiated SH-SY5Y cells was decreased by 14% by the addition of a slightly higher amount of ammonium chloride (90 μM).

CONCLUSIONS

Data from the model suggest decreasing protein consumption may be one simple strategy to decrease blood ammonia levels and minimize the risk of developing hepatic encephalopathy for many liver disease patients. In addition, the model suggests subjects who are known carriers of disease-causing CPS1 alleles may benefit from monitoring blood ammonia levels and limiting the level of protein intake if ammonia levels are high.

A high-protein meal exceeds anabolic and catabolic capacities in rats adapted to a normal protein diet

The postprandial fixation of dietary nitrogen in splanchnic and peripheral tissues as well as its dynamic transfer to the nitrogen pools of the body were quantified in rats subjected to an acute augmentation of dietary protein. For this purpose, we traced the dietary protein and studied the immediate fate of exogenous nitrogen in many tissues and biological fluids. Rats were adapted to a diet providing an adequate protein level (14 g/100 g), and then fed a meal containing either 0.42 g (Group A) or 1.50 g (Group H) of [(15)N]-labeled milk protein. The amounts of exogenous nitrogen transferred to urea (0.32 +/- 0.04 vs. 2.46 +/- 0.25 mmol, respectively), incorporated in splanchnic (0.41 +/- 0.02 vs. 0.87 +/- 0.10 mmol) and peripheral (1.65 +/- 0.84 vs. 2.36 +/- 0.49 mmol) tissue protein were higher in group H than in group A. Individual plasma amino acids (AA) [(15)N]-enrichments showed that AA respond differentially to an acute augmentation of dietary intake. This work provides new descriptive and quantitative information on the metabolic fate of dietary nitrogen in the postprandial state. It highlights the higher integration of a surplus of dietary nitrogen in the tissues even if it is rapidly limited by saturation of the protein synthesis capacities. The main metabolic response remains the stimulation of AA degradation, leading to a large rise in urea production. However, both anabolic and catabolic systems are exceeded, resulting in an elevation of peripheral AA and negative feedback on the gastric emptying rate.

Glutamine and glutamate metabolism across the liver sinusoid

The liver shows net glutamine uptake after a protein-containing meal, during uncontrolled diabetes, sepsis and short-term starvation, but changes to net release during long-term starvation and metabolic acidosis. Some studies report a small net release of glutamate by the liver. The differential expression of glutamine synthetase (perivenous) and glutaminase (periportal) within the liver indicates that glutamine is used for urea synthesis in periportal cells, whereas glutamine synthesis serves to detoxify any residual ammonia in perivenous cells. Experiments in vivo suggest that changes in net hepatic glutamine balance are due predominantly to regulation of glutaminase activity, with the flux through glutamine synthetase being relatively constant.

Hormonal control of hepatic glutaminase

(1) Glucagon activates hepatic glutaminase in vivo. Mitochondria from glucagon-injected rats retain an enhanced capacity to catabolize glutamine and this is more sensitive to activation by inorganic phosphate. The glucagon-elicited stimulation of glutaminase is not evident in broken mitochondria. A similar activation of glutaminase occurs in a number of situations which are associated with elevated glucagon levels in vivo, i.e., after a high-protein meal, after injection of bacterial endotoxin and in diabetes mellitus. (2) Studies in isolated hepatocytes revealed that glutaminase could be activated, not only by glucagon, but also by a cell-permeable protein kinase A activator (Sp-cAMPS) and by a cell-permeable protein phosphatase 1 and 2A inhibitor (okadaic acid). However, the activation of glutaminase by glucagon was not inhibited by a cell-permeable protein kinase A inhibitor (Rp-8-Br-cAMPS). We suggest that the signalling pathway, for glutaminase activation by glucagon, is complex and possibly contains redundant elements.

Regulation of oxidative degradation of L-lysine in rat liver mitochondria

The generation of 14CO2 from [1-14C]lysine by hepatic mitochondria through the saccharopine pathway is controlled by intramitochondrial concentrations of lysine, 2-oxoglutarate and NADPH. Mitochondria, isolated from rats pre-treated with glucagon, exhibited higher activities of L-lysine: 2-oxoglutarate reductase, saccharopine dehydrogenase and 2-aminoadipate aminotransferase. The flux through this pathway is stimulated in liver mitochondria after glucagon treatment. Multiple regulation of lysine oxidation in liver mitochondria confirms a complex mechanism of 'mitochondrial activation' by glucagon.