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Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7621 and * Department of Animal Science & Technology, Seoul National University, Suweon, Korea 441744
3To whom correspondence should be addressed.
| ABSTRACT |
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KEY WORDS: pigs carnitine protein carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I liver muscle
| INTRODUCTION |
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Because the kinetics of CPT-I have not been well described
for young pigs, in this paper, we report enzyme activities in liver and
skeletal muscle, with focused attention on the
Km for carnitine. Furthermore, because
these data were collected from pigs in the course of a larger study
(Heo et al. 2000
) examining the influence of dietary
variables on carnitine status, effects of dietary carnitine and protein
levels also are assessed.
| MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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All animal procedures were approved by the IACUC of North Carolina
State University. The pigs used in this research were part of a larger
project examining effects of dietary carnitine and protein level on
nutrient partitioning in young pigs during abrupt transition to a
strict vegetarian diet (Heo et al. 2000
). Pigs (18 kg,
n = 20) were fed corn-soybean meal
diets5
containing 136 or 180 g protein/kg with either 0, designated
Carn(-), or 500 mg/kg added L-carnitine, designated
Carn(+). Diets were formulated to contain 14.24 MJ metabolizable energy
(ME) and 40 g supplemental soy oil/kg diet, and to exceed
requirements for vitamins and minerals (NRC 1988
).
Detailed composition of each diet was reported previously (Heo et al. 2000
). The low protein diet was marginally adequate in
protein, containing 0.63 g lysine/MJ ME; the high protein diet
contained 0.84 g lysine/MJ ME. Diets were offered at 85% of ad
libitum for 10 d before collection of tissues for enzyme kinetic
and metabolite assays.
Chemicals.
L-Carnitine used for dietary supplementation was donated by Algroup Lonza (Fair Lawn, NJ). [Methyl-3H]carnitine and [1-14C]acetyl-CoA were purchased from American Radiolabeled Chemicals, (St. Louis, MO). Palmitoyl-CoA, acetyl-CoA, carnitine acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.7) and other chemicals were obtained from Sigma Chemical (St. Louis, MO). Scintillation fluid (Scintisafe) and ion-exchange resin (AG 1x8, 100200, Cl form) were obtained from Fisher Scientific (Atlanta, GA) and Bio-Rad Laboratories (Richmond, CA), respectively.
Isolation of liver and muscle mitochondria.
Pigs were killed by American Veterinary Medical
Assoctionapproved electrocution and tissues (liver and soleus
muscle) were obtained immediately and chilled on ice. Liver
mitochondria were isolated by differential centrifugation as described
by Mersmann et al. (1972)
. Skeletal muscle mitochondria
were prepared by the method of Power and Newsholme (1997)
using isolation medium described by Saggerson and Carpenter (1981)
.
The integrity of the mitochondrial membranes was assessed by measuring
respiratory control ratios as described by Aprille and Asimakis (1980)
, and mitochondrial protein was determined by the biuret
method (Gornall et al. 1949
), using bovine serum albumin
as the standard.
Carnitine palmitoyl transferase-I activity analysis.
The activity of CPT-I was determined over a range of carnitine
concentrations from 0 to 3 mmol/L (and palmitoyl-CoA fixed at 80
µmol/L). The assay (Bremer et al. 1985
)
measured the rate of formation of palmitoylcarnitine from
palmitoyl-CoA and carnitine. The CPT-I activities of liver and
muscle mitochondria were expressed as nmol palmitoylcarnitine
produced/(min · mg mitochondrial protein). The assay was verified to
be linear with time and proportional to the amount of tissue assayed
(data not shown).
Carnitine analysis.
All samples were prepared using the procedure outlined by
Bhuiyan et al. (1992)
. Liver and muscle (
500 mg)
tissues were homogenized in 1 mL of ice-cold 1 mol/L
HClO4 using a PowerGen Homogenizer (Model 700; Fisher
Scientific; 6 x 10 s at 30,000 rpm). Three carnitine
fractions (free, short-chain and long-chain esters) were
assayed by the enzymatic radioisotope method of McGarry and Foster (1976)
, as modified by Bhuiyan et al. (1992)
.
Statistical analysis.
Pig was used as the experimental unit. Michaelis-Menten kinetic
constants of CPT-I (Vmax and
Km for carnitine) for each pig were
calculated using the iterative nonlinear procedure of
SAS (1989)
. All data were analyzed as a randomized
complete block (5 replicates) with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement
of treatments (L-carnitine x protein level),
employing the General Linear Models procedure of SAS (1989)
. Significant differences were accepted at
P < 0.05.
| RESULTS |
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Composite curves showing the kinetic response of CPT-I in liver and
skeletal muscle to increasing carnitine are illustrated in Figure 1
. Corresponding kinetic parameter estimates
(Vmax and
Km for carnitine) from pigs fed the
four experimental diets (low and high protein, each with or without 500
mg/kg carnitine) are summarized in Table 1
. The Km for carnitine in liver was
increased by L-carnitine (32%, P < 0.01)
and high protein feeding (25%, P < 0.05). The
Vmax in liver and muscle was not
affected by dietary L-carnitine or protein level. The
Km for carnitine in muscle was 2.5
times that of liver (0.48 vs. 0.19 mmol/L), and the
Vmax in muscle tissue was half of that
in liver tissue [0.54 vs. 1.22 nmol/(min·mg mitochondrial
protein)]. No interactions between L-carnitine and protein
level were detected (P > 0.10).
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Free carnitine and short- and long-chain acyl-carnitine
concentrations increased in liver (160, 690 and 140%, respectively)
and skeletal muscle (70, 130 and 90%, respectively) with dietary
L-carnitine supplementation (P < 0.001),
but concentrations were not affected by high protein feeding
(Table 2
). The proportions of total tissue carnitine (shown parenthetically in
Table 2
) existing as short-chain esters in liver and skeletal
muscle were increased by L-carnitine supplementation (200
and 30% respectively, P < 0.01), whereas the
proportion of long-chain carnitine esters in liver decreased by
12% (P < 0.001), but did not change in skeletal
muscle (P > 0.10). Short-chain acyl-carnitine
concentration (per g wet tissue) and its relative composition were very
low in liver compared with muscle [3 nmol (3%) vs. 194 nmol (19%)];
this difference between the tissues was not altered by carnitine
supplementation [26 nmol (11%) vs. 445 nmol (24%)].
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| DISCUSSION |
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In typical swine husbandry, animals transition from a
mixed-ingredient neonatal diet, formulated with various
carnitine-containing animal products, to a strict vegetarian diet
(i.e., corn-soy based) at
78 wk of age. Therefore, pigs of
this age were selected for study on the basis of the supposition that
removal of dietary carnitine sources (animal products) might occur
while pigs were not fully competent with respect to de novo carnitine
biosynthesis. We reported previously (Heo et al. 2000
)
that when these pigs were supplemented with carnitine at 500 mg/kg,
nitrogen balance and protein accretion were increased and carcass fat
composition was reduced. In this study, we wanted to determine whether
the in vitro kinetics of CPT-I would further corroborate the in
vivo findings of altered nutrient partitioning. Toward this aim, the
free carnitine concentrations in liver and muscle were compared with
the corresponding Km for carnitine
(Fig. 2
). The free carnitine concentrations in liver and muscle of the group
without L-carnitine (80 and 760 µmol/L,
respectively) were less than or near the respective
Km (160 and 460 µmol/L).
These data imply that young pigs may require supplemental carnitine to
ensure that the activity of CPT-I in vivo is not constrained by
carnitine availability. However, they contrast with results from other
mammalian species indicating that free carnitine concentration may
surpass the Km of CPT-I by 510
times (Friolet et al. 1994
, McGarry et al. 1983
, Pearson and Tubbs 1967
).
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Recent studies of the molecular biology of CPT-I have
identified two isoforms, i.e., the L-form (liver), which
possesses relatively low sensitivity to malonyl-CoA
inhibition and has a low Km for
carnitine (
0.03 mmol/L), and the M-form (muscle), which shows
very high sensitivity to malonyl-CoA and has a high
Km for carnitine (
0.50 mmol/L;
McGarry and Brown 1997
). Interestingly, heart and
adipose tissue possess both isoforms, and the isoform ratio changes
with development and physiologic status (Brown et al. 1995
and 1997
). Because the liver is not a major site of
lipogenesis in pigs (Pégorier et al. 1983
),
unlike other mammalian species (e.g., rats or rabbits), we speculate
that it may express some of the M-isoform (or perhaps a unique
isoform), thus resulting in the higher observed
Km and high malonyl-CoA
sensitivity. We further postulate that increasing hepatic carnitine
by supplementation may change the Km
for carnitine via changing the ratio of isoforms (L and M).
Furthermore, the finding that malonyl-CoA sensitivity of pig liver
CPT-I (Lin and Odle 1995
, Schmidt and Herpin 1998
) is close to the average value reported for the L and M
isoforms strengthens this notion. The pig gene for CPT-I will have
to be cloned and characterized to resolve these issues definitively.
| FOOTNOTES |
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2 Supported in part by the North Carolina Agriculture Research Service, Raleigh, NC, Algroup Lonza, Fair Lawn, NJ and by a grant (to J.O., #98352066645) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Research Initiative. ![]()
4 Abbreviations used: Carn(-), diet without added L-carnitine; Carn(+), diet with 500 mg/kg L-carnitine; CPT-I, carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I; ME, metabolizable energy. ![]()
5 Nutrient composition of diets (per kilogram): low protein diets contained 136 g protein, 69.1 g fat, 8.0 g Ca, 7.0 g P, 9.0 g lysine, 3.0 g methionine, 5.9 g threonine; high protein diets contained 180 g protein, 66.3 g fat, 8.0 g Ca, 7.0 g P, 12.0 g lysine, 4.0 g methionine, 7.8 g threonine. Vitamin and mineral premixes provided the following (mg/kg diet): retinol, 2.2; cholecalciferol, 0.042;
-tocopherol, 22.1; menadione, 2.6; riboflavin, 5.8; niacin, 29; choline, 308; biotin, 0.08; pyridoxine, 1.45, folic acid, 1.13; D-pantothenic acid, 22; vitamin B-12, 0.029; Mn, 64; Fe, 104; Zn, 141; Cu, 25; I, 1.6; Se, 0.3; carbadox, 55. See Heo et al. (2000)
for the ingredient composition of each diet. ![]()
Manuscript received March 13, 2000. Revision accepted July 4, 2000.
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