Hepatic amino acid-degrading enzyme expression is downregulated by natural and synthetic ligands of PPARα in rats.

Body nitrogen retention is dependent on the amount of dietary protein consumed, as well as the fat and carbohydrate content in the diet, due to the modulation of amino acid oxidation. PPARα is a transcription factor involved in the upregulation of the expression of enzymes of fatty acid oxidation. However, the role of putative PPARα response elements (PPREs) in the promoter of several amino acid-degrading enzymes (AADEs) is not known. The aim of this work was to study the effect of the synthetic ligand Wy 14643 and the natural ligands palmitate, oleate, and linoleate in rats fed graded concentrations of dietary protein (6, 20, or 50 g/100 g of total diet) on the expression of the AADEs histidase, serine dehydratase, and tyrosine aminotransferase. Thus, we fed male Wistar rats diets containing 6, 20, or 50% casein for 10 d. The results showed that addition of Wy 14643 to the diet significantly reduced the expression of the AADEs. Furthermore, the incubation of hepatocytes with natural ligands of PPARα or feeding rats with diets containing soybean oil, safflower oil, lard, or coconut oil as sources of dietary fat significantly repressed the expression of the AADEs. Gene reporter assays and mobility shift assays demonstrated that the PPRE located at -482 bp of the histidase gene actively bound PPARα in rat hepatocytes. These data indicate that PPARα ligands may reduce amino acid catabolism in rats.