Effect of intestinal resection and arginine-free diet on rat
physiology.
Wakabayashi, Yasuo, Etsuko Yamada, Toshihide Yoshida, and Noriko
Takahashi.
Departments of Biochemistry and Anesthesiology, and the First
Department of Internal Medicine, Kyoto Prefectural University of
Medicine, Kawaramachi Kamikyoku, Kyoto, Japan 602
APStracts 2:0050G, 1995.
Small intestine has been presumed to release citrulline as a precursor
for the endogenous arginine synthesis. We studied effect of
intestinal resection and arginine-free diet on rat physiology. We
maintained rats with massively resected small intestine (R rats) and
those with transected intestine (T rats) on either control or an
arginine-free diet. After 4 weeks, R rats fed Deficient diet (R(-))
lost weight by a mean of 46 g, whereas R rats fed control diet
(R(+)), T rats fed control (T(+)) and Deficient diet (T(-)) gained
30-96 g. Average nitrogen balance was 150, 60, 110, and -33 mg/day
for T(+), T(-), R(+), and R(-), respectively. The concentrations of
arginine in skeletal muscle were 654, 163, 230, and 84 nmol/g,
respectively, and those in plasma were 133, 50, 103, and 54 NM,
respectively. The concentrations of citrulline in R rats were halved
compared with T rats irrespective of diet.
We conclude that arginine is synthesized in a small intestine
-dependent manner in the rat.
Received 15 December 1994; accepted in final form 11 March 1995.
APS Manuscript Number G491-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Gastrointest. Liver
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 28 March 1995.