Dynamic aspects of amino acid metabolism in alloxan-induced diabetes and insulin-treated rabbits: in vivo studies with 15N and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The present study was designed to determine the effect of alloxan-induced diabetes in rabbits on L-[15N]alanine and [15N]glycine kinetic parameters. This process was measured by single-dose administration of 15N-labeled amino acids to postabsorptive control rabbits and alloxan-induced diabetics and insulin-treated diabetic rabbits. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to determine the 15N enrichment of plasma glycine and alanine. Glycine and alanine pools and turnover rate constants were estimated from isotope enrichment time decay curves. The data from the present study indicate that plasma glycine and alanine turnover rate constants increased by 25-50% after alloxan administration but pool sizes showed only little changes, resulting in highly significant increases in fluxes and metabolic clearance rates of both alanine and glycine following alloxan administration; single-dose crystalline insulin or protamine zinc insulin treatment failed to restore the turnover rate constants of glycine or alanine toward control values and caused a depletion of 50% in glycine pool size; 7 days prolonged treatment with protamine zinc insulin restored alanine and glycine fluxes and metabolic clearance rates towards control postabsorptive values; and the reduction in flux values following insulin treatment is consistent with the reduction in the plasma glucose levels in rabbits. The data suggest that the regulatory mechanisms for uptake and metabolism of circulating glycogenic amino acids no longer are operative as a consequence of insulin deficiency following alloxan administration. Exogenous insulin restored the activity of the regulatory mechanism toward the postabsorptive control state.