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Inhibition of oxidative metabolism by propionic acid and its reversal by carnitine in isolated rat hepatocytes.

ABSTRACT: The present study was designed to study the interaction of propionic acid and carnitine on oxidative metabolism by isolated rat hepatocytes. Propionic acid (10 mM) inhibited hepatocyte oxidation of [1-14C]-pyruvate (10 mM) by 60%. This inhibition was not the result of substrate competition, as butyric acid had minimal effects on pyruvate oxidation. Carnitine had a small inhibitory effect on pyruvate oxidation in the hepatocyte system (210 +/- 19 and 184 +/- 18 nmol of pyruvate/60 min per mg of protein in the absence and presence of 10 mM-carnitine respectively; means +/- S.E.M., n = 10). However, in the presence of propionic acid (10 mM), carnitine (10 mM) increased the rate of pyruvate oxidation by 19%. Under conditions where carnitine partially reversed the inhibitory effect of propionic acid on pyruvate oxidation, formation of propionylcarnitine was documented by using fast-atom-bombardment mass spectroscopy. Propionic acid also inhibited oxidation of [1-14C]palmitic acid (0.8 mM) by hepatocytes isolated from fed rats. The degree of inhibition caused by propionic acid was decreased in the presence of 10 mM-carnitine (41% inhibition in the absence of carnitine, 22% inhibition in the presence of carnitine). Propionic acid did not inhibit [1-14C]palmitic acid oxidation by hepatocytes isolated from 48 h-starved rats. These results demonstrate that propionic acid interferes with oxidative metabolism in intact hepatocytes. Carnitine partially reverses the inhibition of pyruvate and palmitic acid oxidation by propionic acid, and this reversal is associated with increased propionylcarnitine formation. The present study provides a metabolic basis for the efficacy of carnitine in patients with abnormal organic acid accumulation, and the observation that such patients appear to have increased carnitine requirements ('carnitine insufficiency').

SUBMITTER: Brass EP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1146796 | biostudies-other | 1986 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:The hepatic metabolism of hypoxanthine was investigated by studying both the fate of labelled hypoxanthine, added at micromolar concentrations to isolated rat hepatocyte suspensions, and the kinetic properties of purified hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase from rat liver. More than 80% of hypoxanthine was oxidized towards allantoin; less than 5% of the label was incorporated into the purine mononucleotides, and a similar proportion appeared transiently in inosine. The maximal velocity of oxidation (approx. 750nmol/min per g of cells) was in close agreement with the known activity of xanthine oxidase in liver extracts. In contrast, the maximal velocity of the incorporation of labelled hypoxanthine into mononucleotides reached only 30nmol/min per g of cells, compared with an activity of hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase, measured at substrate concentrations analogous to those prevailing intracellularly, of 500nmol/min per g of cells. Hypoxanthine incorporation into the mononucleotides was decreased by allopurinol, anoxia and ethanol, despite inhibition of its oxidation under these conditions; it was increased by incubation of the cells in supraphysiological concentrations of Pi. Allopurinol and anoxia decreased the concentration of phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate inside the cells by respectively 40 and 60%, ethanol had no effect on the concentration of this metabolite and Pi increased its concentration up to 10-fold. The kinetic study of purified hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase showed that a mixture of ATP, IMP, GMP and GTP, at the concentrations prevailing in the liver cell, decreased the V max. of the enzyme 6-fold, increased its Km for hypoxanthine from 1 to 4 microM and its Km for phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate from 2.5 to 25 microM. In the presence of 5 microM-hypoxanthine and 2.5 microM-phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate, the mixture of nucleotides inhibited the activity of purified hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase by 95%. It is concluded that this inhibition results in a limited participation of hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase in the control of the production of allantoin by the liver.

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Inhibition of oxidative metabolism by propionic acid and its reversal by carnitine in isolated rat hepatocytes.

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