Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences and Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Department of Animal Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA.
Biol Reprod. 2022 Sep 12;107(3):823-833. doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioac097.
During the peri-implantation period of pregnancy, the trophectoderm of pig conceptuses utilize glucose via multiple biosynthetic pathways to support elongation and implantation, resulting in limited availability of pyruvate for metabolism via the TCA cycle. Therefore, we hypothesized that porcine trophectoderm cells replenish tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle intermediates via a process known as anaplerosis and that trophectoderm cells convert glutamine to α-ketoglutarate, a TCA cycle intermediate, through glutaminolysis. Results demonstrate: (1) that expression of glutaminase (GLS) increases in trophectoderm and glutamine synthetase (GLUL) increases in extra-embryonic endoderm of conceptuses, suggesting that extra-embryonic endoderm synthesizes glutamine, and trophectoderm converts glutamine into glutamate; and (2) that expression of glutamate dehydrogenase 1 (GLUD1) decreases and expression of aminotransferases including PSAT1 increase in trophectoderm, suggesting that glutaminolysis occurs in the trophectoderm through the GLS-aminotransferase pathway during the peri-implantation period. We then incubated porcine conceptuses with 13C-glutamine in the presence or absence of glucose in the culture media and then monitored the movement of glutamine-derived carbons through metabolic intermediates within glutaminolysis and the TCA cycle. The 13C-labeled carbons were accumulated in glutamate, α-ketoglutarate, succinate, malate, citrate, and aspartate in both the presence and absence of glucose in the media, and the accumulation of 13C-labeled carbons significantly increased in the absence of glucose in the media. Collectively, our results indicate that during the peri-implantation period of pregnancy, the proliferating and migrating trophectoderm cells of elongating porcine conceptuses utilize glutamine via glutaminolysis as an alternate carbon source to maintain TCA cycle flux.
在妊娠的种植前期,猪胚胎的滋养层通过多种生物合成途径利用葡萄糖来支持细胞伸长和植入,导致用于三羧酸 (TCA) 循环代谢的丙酮酸供应有限。因此,我们假设猪滋养层细胞通过一种称为补体的过程来补充三羧酸 (TCA) 循环中间产物,并且滋养层细胞通过谷氨酰胺分解将谷氨酰胺转化为 TCA 循环中间产物α-酮戊二酸。结果表明:(1)滋养层中谷氨酰胺酶 (GLS) 的表达增加,胚胎外胚层中谷氨酰胺合成酶 (GLUL) 的表达增加,表明胚胎外胚层合成谷氨酰胺,滋养层将谷氨酰胺转化为谷氨酸;(2)滋养层中谷氨酸脱氢酶 1 (GLUD1) 的表达降低,包括 PSAT1 在内的多种氨基转移酶的表达增加,表明在种植前期,谷氨酰胺分解通过 GLS-氨基转移酶途径发生在滋养层中。然后,我们在培养基中存在或不存在葡萄糖的情况下用 13C-谷氨酰胺孵育猪胚胎,然后监测谷氨酰胺分解和 TCA 循环中代谢中间产物中谷氨酰胺衍生碳的运动。在有或没有葡萄糖的培养基中,13C 标记的碳都积累在谷氨酸、α-酮戊二酸、琥珀酸、苹果酸、柠檬酸和天冬氨酸中,并且在没有葡萄糖的培养基中,13C 标记的碳的积累显著增加。总的来说,我们的结果表明,在妊娠的种植前期,伸长的猪胚胎增殖和迁移的滋养层细胞通过谷氨酰胺分解将谷氨酰胺作为替代碳源用于维持 TCA 循环通量。