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Nutrient Metabolism

Recovery of ¹⁵N in the Body, Urine, and Gas Phase of Piglets Infused Intravenously with ¹⁵N L-Alanine from 12–72 Hours of Age^1,2

Todd W. Rasch^* and Norlin J. Benevenga^*,,3

^* Departments of Nutritional Sciences and Animal Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706

³To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: njbeneve{at}ansci.wisc.edu.

Previous studies of nitrogen metabolism provided evidence suggesting that nitrogen excretory product(s) not measured by standard methods of analysis escape detection. To determine whether ¹⁵N could be recovered quantitatively in the body, urine, or expired gas, newborn piglets (n = 16; 1.47 ± 0.27 kg) were infused intravenously with ¹⁵N L-alanine from 12 to 72 h of age at a rate providing 25% of the piglets’ resting energy expenditure and a ¹⁵N abundance of 2.3 (n = 4), 2.8 (n = 10), or 3.3 (n = 2) atom percent. To investigate the possibility of gaseous nitrogen excretion, 4 piglets infused with ¹⁵N L-alanine were housed in a closed circuit respiration system initially flushed with an 80% argon:20% O₂ mixture. The gas composition of the system was monitored at 12-h intervals throughout the experiment. Mean total recovery of ¹⁵N was 93.3 ± 2.8% and was significantly different from 100% (P < 0.001). To determine whether ¹⁵N recovery was altered by metabolism, 2 piglets (1.34 ± 0.13 kg) were killed 6 min after a bolus i.v. infusion of ¹⁵N L-alanine (97.96 ± 1.13 atom percent). Mean recovery of ¹⁵N in the bodies of these piglets was 101.5 ± 1.6% and was not different from 100%. No change in chamber gas ²⁸N₂ (P = 0.0969) or ²⁹N₂ (P = 0.08565) over 72 h was evident. The inability to recover 6.7 ± 2.8% of infused ¹⁵N suggests that a nitrogen-containing excretory product or metabolite may be escaping detection, but the discrepancy cannot be explained by gaseous nitrogen (²⁸N₂, ²⁹N₂, or ³⁰N₂) excretion.

KEY WORDS: • piglets • nitrogen balance • nitrogen excretion • ¹⁵N recovery

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