Glycine-U-¹⁴C Metabolism in Young Rats Fed the 10% Casein Diets Containing Excess Glycine

Abstract

Nine hours after rats fed ad libitum for 14 days a 10% caein diet (10C), a 10% casein diet containing 7% glycine (10C7G) and a 10% casein diet containing 7% glycine with 1.4% L-arginine•HCl and 0.9% L-methionine (10C7GArgMet) were force-fed 10ml of each diet suspension containing 5 μCi of glycine-U-¹⁴C per 100g of body weight, the radioactivity recoveries of ¹⁴C in expired CO₂, tissue components and urine were determined.
The radioactivity recovery of ¹⁴C in the expired CO₂ of the 10C7G group was generally higher than that of the 10C7G ArgMet group, and those of both groups would have been much higher than that of the 10C group unless the isotope had been diluted. The amount of expiratory ¹⁴C of rats fed a 25% casein diet containing 7% glycine was not different from that of the 10C7G group. The recovery of ¹⁴C in the trichloroacetic acid (TCA) soluble fraction of muscle of the 10C7G and the 10C7G ArgMet groups were greater than that of the 10C group, but there was no difference between the 10C7G and the 10C7G ArgMet groups. The recoveries of ¹⁴C in the TCA soluble fraction and protein of plasma and liver, and the muscle protein were negligible in all the groups. The amount of glycine-¹⁴C incorporated into the carcass lipids of the 10C7G ArgMet group was larger than that of other groups. Those in the carcass lipids of the 10C7G and the 10C7G ArgMet groups would have been much higher than that of the 10C group unless the dilution of the isotope had taken place. The recoveries of ¹⁴C in the liver and muscle glycogen, and liver lipids were remarkably small in all the groups. From the above results, it was suggested that the degradation of glycine-¹⁴C to expiratory CO₂ was not accelerated, but the rate of incorporation of the isotope into carcass lipids was increased by the supplementation of L-arginine and L-methionine to the 10C7G diet as compared with that of rats fed the 10C7G diet.