Abstract
A technique of continuous infusion of (6-3H) and (U-14C)glucose and (U-14C) lactate was developed in the 1-day-old suckling rat, allowing the calculation of true and apparent glucose turnover and glucose-lactate interrelations under steady-state conditions. True glucose turnover rate in suckling newborns (16.9 ± 0.4 mg/min/kg) was 50% higher than in fasted adult rats. A 20 ± 3% glucose recycling was found which corresponded approximately to the Cori cycle activity. Although lactate was contributing for 25% to glucose turnover rate, this did not represent a net glucose synthesis since more lactate was formed from glucose (8.6 mg/min/kg) than glucose from lactate (4.1 mg/min/kg). However, recycling from lactate may be physiologically important as it could be the expression of a decrease in glucose oxidation due to an inhibition of pyruvate dehydrogenase by the elevated concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids and ketone bodies found in the plasma of 1-day old suckling rats.This glucose sparing effect could in turn diminish the requirement of aminoacids for glucose synthesis, thus allowing a high rate of protein synthesis.
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Ferre, P., Turlan, P. & Girard, J. Glucose turnover and glucose-lactate interrelations in the newborn rat. Pediatr Res 15, 1547 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198112000-00072
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198112000-00072