QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Usui, T. Articles by Muto, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Usui, T. Articles by Muto, Y.

Oral Supplementation with Branched-Chain Amino Acids Improves Transthyretin Turnover in Rats with Carbon Tetrachloride-Induced Liver Cirrhosis^1,2,

First Department of Internal Medicine, Gifu University School of Medicine, Gifu 500, Japan

The hypothesis that dietary branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) supplementation improves the impaired protein turnover in male Donryu rats with carbon tetrachloride-induced liver cirrhosis was tested. We supplemented cirrhotic rats orally for 2 wk with BCAA solution [26.67 mg BCAA/(100 g body weight·d)], a conventional amino acid mixture [4.25 mg BCAA/(100 g body weight·d)] or saline and fed these three groups the AIN76 basal diet to have similar intakes of total energy and total nitrogen. Normal rats without liver cirrhosis were fed the basal diet similar to the above (noncirrhotic controls). After supplementation, rats were fed intravenous transthyretin (thyroxine-binding prealbumin) doubly labeled with ¹²⁵I-tyramine-cellobiose and ¹³¹I. Kinetic indices including production rate of transthyretin were analyzed from plasma transthyretin disappearance curves. Tissue sites of transthyretin degradation were assayed using a trapped ligand technique by measuring ¹²⁵I-tyramine-cellobiose levels. The production rate of transthyretin was significantly lower in cirrhotic rats supplemented with saline (mean 25.46 x 10^-3·h^-1) compared with noncirrhotic controls (45.08 x 10^-3·h^-1) (P < 0.05). This was corrected by supplementing cirrhotic rats with BCAA (37.05 x 10^-3·h^-1, P < 0.05) but not with conventional amino acid mixture (22.49 x 10^-3·h^-1). The accelerated degradation of transthyretin in muscles of cirrhotic rats was improved by BCAA (P < 0.05). In conclusion, dietary supplementation with BCAA improves the impaired transthyretin turnover in rats with liver cirrhosis.

KEY WORDS: • rats • liver cirrhosis • dietary branched-chain amino acids • transthyretin • kinetic analysis

¹ Supported in part by a grant-in-aid from the Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan.

² The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

³ To whom reprint requests should be addressed.

Manuscript received 12 June 1995. Revision accepted 6 February 1996.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Y. Shimomura, T. Honda, M. Shiraki, T. Murakami, J. Sato, H. Kobayashi, K. Mawatari, M. Obayashi, and R. A. Harris Branched-Chain Amino Acid Catabolism in Exercise and Liver Disease J. Nutr., January 1, 2006; 136(1): 250S - 253S. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]