Alanine, arginine, cysteine, and proline, but not glutamine, are substrates for, and acute mediators of, the liver-α-cell axis in female mice
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The aim of this study was to identify the amino acids that stimulate glucagon secretion in mice and whose metabolism depends on glucagon receptor signaling. Pancreata of female C57BL/6JRj mice were perfused with 19 individual amino acids and pyruvate (at 10 mM), and secretion of glucagon was assessed using a specific glucagon radioimmunoassay. Separately. a glucagon receptor antagonist (GRA; 25-2648, 100 mg/kg) or vehicle was administered to female C57BL/6JRj mice 3 h before an intraperitoneal injection of four different isomolar amino acid mixtures (in total 7 mu mol/g body wt) as follows: mixture 1 contained alanine, arginine, cysteine, and proline; mixture 2 contained aspartate, glutamate, histidine, and lysine; mixture 3 contained citrulline, methionine, serine, and threonine; and mixture 4 contained glutamine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Blood glucose, plasma glucagon, amino acid, and insulin concentrations were measured using well-characterized methodologies. Alanine (P = 0.03), arginine (P <0.0001), cysteine (P = 0.01), glycine (P = 0.02), lysine (P = 0.02), and proline (P = 0.03), but not glutamine (P = 0.9). stimulated glucagon secretion from the perfused mouse pancreas. However, when the four isomolar amino acid mixtures were administered in vivo, the four mixtures elicited similar glucagon responses (P > 0.5). Plasma concentrations of total amino acids in vivo were higher after administration of GRA when mixture I (P = 0.004) or mixture 3 (P = 0.04) were injected. Our data suggest that alanine, arginine, cysteine, and proline, but not glutamine, are involved in the acute regulation of the liver-a-cell axis in female mice, as they all increased glucagon secretion and their disappearance rate was altered by GRA.
Original language | English |
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Journal | American Journal of Physiology: Endocrinology and Metabolism |
Volume | 318 |
Issue number | 6 |
Pages (from-to) | E920-E929 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISSN | 0193-1849 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
- amino acids, alpha-cell, glucagon, liver-alpha-cell axis, AMINO-ACID TRANSPORT, UREA-CYCLE ENZYMES, GLUCAGON-SECRETION, RAT-LIVER, GLUCOSE, INSULIN, STIMULATION, RECEPTOR, DISRUPTION, INFUSION
Research areas
ID: 251311178