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V A Zammit

Publications and source records attributed to V A Zammit.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Effects of hydration state on the synthesis and secretion of triacylglycerol by isolated rat hepatocytes. Implications for the actions of insulin and glucagon on hepatic secretion.

The effects of hepatocyte volume on the secretion of triacylglycerol were studied in order to test the suggestion that increases in the portal concentrations of osmolyte amino acids and metal ions during the prandial/early-absorptive phase may be involved in mediating the acute changes in glycerolipid metabolism observed in vivo [Zammit (1995) Biochem Soc. Trans. 23, 506-511]. Incubation of isolated rat hepatocytes with hypo-osmotic medium or in the presence of glutamine (in the presence or absence of leucine), conditions which gave an increase in cell water content of between 8 and 27%, resulted in a decrease in the rate of [14C]triacylglycerol (TAG) secretion when [14C]palmitate was used as substrate. The inhibition was proportional to the increase in cell water content. At low exogenous palmitate concentration (0.05 mM), the inhibition of [14C]TAG secretion was accompanied by a marked shift in the incorporation of label from TAG to phospholipid. In the presence of 0.5 mM palmitate this effect was attenuated, and in the presence of 1 mM palmitate it was abolished. Increased cell volume associated with incubation of hepatocytes with glutamine (in the presence or absence of leucine) also resulted in a decrease in the fraction of newly labelled TAG that was secreted into the medium. Decreased cell volume, achieved by incubation of hepatocytes with hyperosmotic medium (sufficient to decrease cell water content by approx. 9%) decreased overall [14C]TAG secretion, but did not affect the amount of label that was incorporated into phospholipid as a fraction of that incorporated into total glycerolipids. Cell shrinkage, however, diminished the fraction of newly labelled [14C]TAG that was secreted. When intracellular TAG was prelabelled with [3H]glycerol, it was found that cell shrinkage markedly inhibited (preformed) [3H]TAG secretion, whereas cell swelling did not affect this route of TAG secretion. The data are discussed in terms of the possible action of changes in cell hydration at the different loci at which hepatocyte TAG secretion is controlled, with reference to previous observations that both insulin and glucagon are able to inhibit TAG secretion in cultured rat hepatocytes and HepG2 cells.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1995

Acute meal-induced changes in hepatic glycerolipid metabolism are unimpaired in severely diabetic rats: implications for the role of insulin.

The effect of food intake on the partitioning of diacylglycerol between phospholipid and triacylglycerol synthesis, and on the fractional rate of secretion of triacylglycerol was studied in starved-refed diabetic rats by using the technique of selective labelling of hepatic fatty acids in vivo. Acute and phasic responses in these parameters similar to those observed previously in normal animals were obtained, in spite of the absence of any insulin response to refeeding. Labelling of the major phospholipids (phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine) increased markedly at the expense of triacylglycerol labelling. In addition, the fractional rate of secretion of newly-labelled triacylglycerol was decreased. The data suggest that insulin is not obligatorily involved in any decrease in hepatic triacylglycerol secretion in the prandial period, but that it may act synergistically with other meal-induced signals to mediate this effect in normal animals.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Quantification in vivo of the effects of different types of dietary fat on the loci of control involved in hepatic triacylglycerol secretion.

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) have been suggested to exert their hypotriglyceridaemic effect through several possible mechanisms that would be expected to decrease the rate of hepatic very-low-density-lipoprotein-triacylglycerol secretion. We have quantified the role played in vivo by changes in the pattern of partitioning of (i) acyl-CoA between oxidation and esterification, (ii) diacylglycerol between synthesis of triacylglycerol and of the major phospholipids, and (iii) triacylglycerol between secretion and storage within the liver, in response to two dietary levels of n-6 and n-3 PUFA. In order to achieve this we used the technique of selective labelling of hepatic fatty acids in vivo. Compared with a predominantly saturated fatty acid diet, both n-6 and n-3 PUFA intake resulted in a decrease in the proportion of acyl moieties that were secreted by the liver, through an increased diversion of acyl-CoA towards oxidation and a lower fractional rate of secretion of newly synthesized triacylglycerol. In addition, a diet rich in n-3 fatty acids resulted not only in a greater magnitude of these effects but also in a doubling of the partitioning of diacylglycerol towards phospholipid labelling. It is shown that the overall 50% reduction achieved by fish oil feeding in the proportion of acyl groups that were secreted by the liver was distributed over all three branch points. The contribution of each of these adaptations was quantified. The application of such an approach, i.e. the localization and in vivo quantification of the importance of loci of control, in studies on dietary and pharmacological agents that affect lipaemia, is discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Insulin-independent and extremely rapid switch in the partitioning of hepatic fatty acids from oxidation to esterification in starved-refed diabetic rats. Possible roles for changes in cell pH and volume.

The requirement for a normal insulin response in mediating the starved-to-refed transition, with respect to the partitioning of hepatic fatty acids between beta-oxidation and esterification to glycerol, was studied. Diabetic rats were starved for 24 h and refed ad libitum for various periods of time. There was no increase in plasma insulin in response to the meal. However, the fatty acid oxidation:esterification ratio was very rapidly decreased from the starved to the fed value, most of the transition being achieved within the first hour of refeeding. There was a 2 h lag in the response of hepatic malonyl-CoA concentration, such that this rapid switch from oxidation to esterification could not be explained on the basis of changes in the absolute concentration of this inhibitor of carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT I). Hepatic pyruvate and lactate concentrations both increased by several-fold upon refeeding and peaked after 1 h and 3 h, respectively. The hepatic lactate:pyruvate ratio increased 3.2-fold during the first 3 h of refeeding, suggesting that the cytosolic NAD(+)-NADH couple became much more highly reduced during the lag-period between the onset of inhibition of flux of fatty acids towards oxidation and the rise in malonyl-CoA concentration. This may be indicative of a lowering of intracellular pH, which would amplify greatly the sensitivity of CPT I to the inhibitor. In view of the very rapid and high food intake by these diabetic rats, the possibility is also considered that portal concentrations of amino acids and other metabolites could give rise to an increase in liver cell-volume that would inhibit CPT I acutely by an as yet unknown mechanism [M. Guzman, G. Velasco, J. Castro and V. A. Zammit (1994) FEBS Lett. 344, 239-241].

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Effects of prolonged treatment of lactating goats with bovine somatotropin on aspects of adipose tissue and liver metabolism.

The effects of prolonged (22 weeks) treatment of lactating goats with bovine somatotropin on the metabolism of adipose tissue and liver has been investigated. Somatotropin treatment resulted in smaller adipocytes, decreased rate of fatty acid synthesis and decreased total acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity of adipocytes, but with no change in the proportion of this enzyme in the active state. The rate of acylglycerol glycerol synthesis from glucose of adipocytes tended to decrease as did total glucose utilization by the tissue. Glucose conversion to lactate was unchanged by somatotropin treatment but glucose conversion to other products was decreased. Maximum response of adipose tissue to insulin was unchanged but the sensitivity to insulin decreased on somatotropin treatment. Treatment with somatotropin had no effect on basal lipolysis and decreased maximum response to the beta-agonist isoproterenol, but this probably reflects the rate of isoproterenol-stimulated lipolysis varying with cell volume in adipocytes. No apparent change in response either to alpha 2-adrenergic agonists or to adenosine was apparent. The number of beta-adrenergic receptors was unchanged in adipocyte membranes but the number of alpha 2-adrenergic receptors increased. The rate of hepatic gluconeogenesis in vitro, the activity of key gluconeogenic enzymes and the modulation of the rate of gluconeogenesis by butyrate were unchanged except for the effect of this latter agent on gluconeogenesis from propionate. Hepatic ketogenic activity, as indicated by the activity of carnitine palmitoyl-CoA-transferase-1 and the concentrations of carnitine and acyl carnitines, was unchanged by treatment. Thus at the end of a prolonged period of treatment with somatotropin in lactating goats, lipid synthesis in adipose tissue is still decreased but no effects on liver lipid and carbohydrate metabolism were apparent.

Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase↗
PubMed1995

The role of insulin in the control of hepatic fatty acid and glycerolipid metabolism assessed by studies in vivo.

The liver secretes triacylglycerol-rich very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL). Teleologically, it would be expected that during the prandial/early absorptive period the rate of hepatic VLDL secretion would be inhibited, in view of the concomitant secretion of chylomicrons from the gut. Such inhibition would limit the extent and duration of post-prandial hyperlipaemia. Experiments in which the fatty acids of the liver were labelled specifically in rats in vivo show that, during a mean, triacylglycerol secretion was inhibited through a combination of diversion of flux towards phospholipid synthesis, and inhibition of the fractional rate of secretion of triacylglycerol. These adaptations occur even in diabetic rats, indicating that insulin is not obligatorily involved in mediating them. It is suggested that uptake of osmolytes (e.g. amino acids that are cotransported with Na+ ions into hepatocytes) from the portal circulation may result in increased hepatocyte volume and that this, in turn, alters fatty acid and glycerolipid metabolism independently of, but possibly in synergy with, insulin action.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Effects of insulin treatment of diabetic rats on hepatic partitioning of fatty acids between oxidation and esterification, phospholipid and acylglycerol synthesis, and on the fractional rate of secretion of triacylglycerol in vivo.

1. The hypothesis that insulin treatment of streptozotocin-diabetic rats does not alter acutely the ability of acylcarnitine synthesis to compete successfully for cytosolic long-chain acyl-CoA [Grantham and Zammit (1988) Biochem. J. 249, 409-414], was tested in vivo by using the technique of selective labelling of hepatic fatty acids in awake unrestrained rats. In the same animals, the partitioning of hepatic fatty acids between acylglycerol and phospholipid synthesis, and of newly labelled triacylglycerol between secretion into the plasma and retention in the liver, was also studied. 2. In untreated diabetic animals, the ratio of fatty acid oxidation to esterification was double that found in normal fed animals, whereas there were no differences in the values of the above-mentioned parameters of glycerolipid metabolism. Thus the insulin status of the rats only has chronic effects on specific aspects of fatty acid metabolism in the liver. 3. Treatment of diabetic rats with insulin resulted in no change in the oxidation/esterification ratio for the first 5 h after the start of insulin administration. Thereafter, there were reciprocal changes in the 14CO2 expired (an index of oxidation) and 14C label recovered in hepatic and plasma glycerolipids. However, the pattern of partitioning observed in normal fed rats was still not re-established after 8 h of insulin treatment. 4. There was a small and transient decrease in the fractional rate of triacylglycerol secretion by the liver at the start of insulin treatment and an increase in the proportion of labelled fatty acid that was utilized for phospholipid synthesis such that phospholipid labelling as a proportion of that of total glycerolipids was doubled after 8 h of insulin treatment. 5. The data are discussed in relation to the roles of insulin in mediating acute changes in hepatic fatty acid metabolism and very-low-density-lipoprotein triacylglycerol secretion by the liver.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Evidence against direct involvement of phosphorylation in the activation of carnitine palmitoyltransferase by okadaic acid in rat hepatocytes.

The mechanism of activation of mitochondrial overt carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT I) by treatment of hepatocytes with okadaic acid (OA) was investigated. Activation was observed when cells were permeabilized with digitonin, but not when a total membrane fraction was obtained by sonication. Both cell disruption methods preserved the activation of phosphorylase observed in OA-treated hepatocytes. Activation of CPT I was also observed in crude homogenates of OA-treated hepatocytes, but it was lost upon subsequent isolation of mitochondria from such homogenates. In all experiments, any activation observed did not depend on the presence or absence of fluoride ions in the permeabilization/homogenization media. When hepatocytes were permeabilized in the absence of fluoride and further incubated with exogenous phosphatases 1 and 2A, the OA-induced activation of CPT was not reversed, whereas the activation of glycogen phosphorylase in the same cells was rapidly reversed. Treatment of hepatocytes with OA, followed by permeabilization and incubation before assay of CPT I, demonstrated that OA had no short-term effect on the sensitivity of CPT I to malonyl-CoA, although the difference in sensitivity between cells isolated from fed and starved rats was fully preserved. Incubation of isolated mitochondria or purified mitochondrial outer membranes with cyclic AMP-dependent or AMP-activated protein kinases, under phosphorylating conditions, did not affect the activity of CPT I or its sensitivity to malonyl-CoA inhibition. Under the same conditions, the use of [32P]ATP resulted in the labelling of several outer-membrane proteins but, unlike [3H]etomoxir-labelled CPT I, none of them was specifically removed from membrane extracts by a specific polyclonal antibody to the enzyme. We conclude that the increase in overt CPT activity observed in permeabilized hepatocytes is not due to direct phosphorylation of CPT I, but may involve interactions between the mitochondrial outer membrane and other membranous or soluble cytosolic components of the cell.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Expression of liver carnitine palmitoyltransferase I and II genes during development in the rat.

The enzyme activity and the expression (protein and mRNA concentrations) of genes encoding for hepatic carnitine palmitoyl-transferases (CPT) I and II were studied during neonatal development, in response to nutritional state at weaning and during the fed-starved transition in adult rats. The activity, the protein concentration and the level of mRNA encoding CPT I are low in foetal-rat liver and increase 5-fold during the first day of extra-uterine life. The activity and gene expression of CPT I are high during the entire suckling period, in the liver of 30-day-old rats weaned at 20 days on to a high-fat diet and in the liver of 48 h-starved adult rats. The activity and CPT I gene expression are markedly decreased in the liver of rats weaned on to a high-carbohydrate diet. By contrast, the activity, the protein concentration and the level of mRNA encoding CPT II are already high in the liver of term foetuses and remain at this level throughout the suckling period, irrespective of the nutritional state of the animals either at weaning or in the adult.

Aging↗
PubMed1994

Inhibition of carnitine palmitoyltransferase I by hepatocyte swelling.

Incubation of hepatocytes under conditions known to increase their volume, i.e. with amino acids (glutamine, proline) or in hypo-osmotic medium, decreased carnitine palmitoyl-transferase I (CPT-I) activity. This effect of hepatocyte swelling was antagonized by okadaic acid and dibutyryl-cAMP. Physiological concentrations of glutamate inhibited CPT-I activity in digitonin-permeabilized hepatocytes but not in isolated mitochondria. Results suggest that the amino acid-induced inhibition of CPT-I shares a common mechanism with the amino acid-induced stimulation of acetyl-CoA carboxylase and glycogen synthase [(1993) Eur. J. Biochem. 217, 1083-1089].

Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase↗
PubMed1994

Monitoring the partitioning of hepatic fatty acids in vivo: keeping track of control.

Noninvasive labelling of hepatic fatty acids in conscious, unrestrained rats shows how liver lipid metabolism responds acutely to physiological perturbations, such as the starved-to-refed transition. The speed with which the liver switches from fatty acid oxidation to esterification varies widely according to the requirement of the animal for continued synthesis of glucose 6-phosphate from three-carbon precursors. Ingestion of a meal also provides a strong signal for the diversion of fatty acids away from triacylglycerol synthesis and secretion, but insulin may only play an indirect role in this effect.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Mature carnitine palmitoyltransferase I retains the N-terminus of the nascent protein in rat liver.

Carnitine palmitoyltransferase I was isolated from octylglucoside extracts of rat liver mitochondrial outer membranes. This native enzyme was digested proteolytically with V8 protease. Five major peptides were obtained all of which were found in the amino acid sequence predicted from the full-length cDNA sequence of the protein. One peptide was found to correspond to the extreme N-terminus of the deduced amino acid sequence. Therefore, the mature protein retains the N-terminus of the nascent protein after import into the mitochondrial membrane. Knowledge of the identity of the N-terminus of the mature protein allows a reappraisal of the role of the two main. N-terminal hydrophobic domains of the protein and of the possible topology of the protein within the membrane.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Rapid switch of hepatic fatty acid metabolism from oxidation to esterification during diurnal feeding of meal-fed rats correlates with changes in the properties of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, but not of carnitine palmitoyltransferase I.

The effects of the ingestion of a meal on the partitioning of hepatic fatty acids between oxidation and esterification were studied in vivo for meal-fed rats. The time course for the reversal of the starved state was extremely rapid and the process was complete within 2 h, in marked contrast with the reversal of the effects of starvation in rats fed ad libitum [A. M. B. Moir and V. A. Zammit (1993) Biochem. J. 289, 49-55]. This rapid reversal occurred in spite of the fact that, in the liver of the meal-fed animals before feeding, a similar degree of partitioning of fatty acids in favour of oxidation was observed as in 24 h-starved rats (previously fed ad libitum). This suggested that the lower degree of ketonaemia observed in meal-fed rats before a meal is not due to the inability of acylcarnitine formation to compete successfully with esterification of fatty acids to the glycerol moiety. Investigation of the possible mechanisms that could contribute towards the rapid switching-off of fatty acid oxidation revealed that this was correlated with a very rapid rise and overshoot in hepatic malonyl-CoA concentration, but not with any change in the activity, or sensitivity to malonyl-CoA, of the mitochondrial overt carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT I). The role of these two parameters in the reversal of fasting-induced hepatic fatty acid oxidation was thus the inverse of that observed previously for refed 24 h-starved rats. The rapid increase in [malonyl-CoA] was accompanied by an immediate and complete reversion of the kinetic characteristics (Ka for citrate, expressed/total activity ratio) of acetyl-CoA carboxylase to those found in the post-meal animals, again in contrast with the time course observed in refed 24 h-starved rats [A. M. B. Moir and V. A. Zammit (1990) Biochem. J. 272, 511-517]. The rapidity with which these changes occurred was specific to the partitioning of acyl-CoA; the meal-induced diversion of glycerolipids towards phospholipid synthesis and the acute inhibition of the fractional rate of triacylglycerol secretion occurred with very similar time courses to those observed upon refeeding of 24 h-starved rats. The results confirm the central role played by differences in the dynamics of changes in hepatic malonyl-CoA concentration, and CPT I sensitivity to it, in determining the route through which ingested glucose is converted into hepatic glycogen upon refeeding of starved rats which had previously been meal-fed or fed ad libitum.

Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase↗
PubMed1993

Monitoring of changes in hepatic fatty acid and glycerolipid metabolism during the starved-to-fed transition in vivo. Studies on awake, unrestrained rats.

1. The technique of selective labelling of hepatic fatty acids in vivo [Moir and Zammit (1992) Biochem. J. 283, 145-149] has been used to monitor non-invasively the metabolism of fatty acids in the livers of awake unrestrained rats during the starved-to-refed transition. Values for the incorporation of labelled fatty acid into liver and plasma glycerolipids and into exhaled carbon dioxide after injection of labelled lipoprotein and Triton WR 1339 into rats with chronically cannulated jugular veins were obtained for successive 1 h periods from the start of refeeding of 24 h-starved rats. 2. Starvation for 24 h resulted in marked and reciprocal changes in the incorporation of label into glycerolipids and exhaled 14CO2, such that a 4-fold higher value was obtained for the oxidation/esterification ratio in livers of starved rats compared with fed animals. 3. Refeeding of starved rats did not return this ratio to the value observed for fed animals for at least 7 h; during the first 3 h of refeeding the ratio was at least as high as that for starved rats. Between 4 h and 6 h of refeeding the ratio was still approx. 70% of that in starved animals, and 2.5-fold higher than in fed rats. 4. These data support the hypothesis that the capacity of the liver to oxidize fatty acids is maintained at a high level during the initial stages of refeeding [Grantham and Zammit (1986) Biochem. J. 239, 485-488] and that control of the flux of hepatic fatty acids into the oxidative pathway is largely lost from the reaction catalysed by mitochondrial overt carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT I) during this phase of recovery from the starved state. 5. Refeeding also resulted in a rapid (< 1 h) increase in hepatic malonyl-CoA concentrations to values intermediate between those in livers of fed and starved animals. The sensitivity of CPT I to malonyl-CoA inhibition in isolated liver mitochondria was only partially reversed even after 5 h of refeeding. 6. Refeeding resulted in an acute 35% inhibition of the fraction of synthesized triacylglycerol that was secreted into the plasma; the maximal effect occurred 2-3 h after the start of refeeding. The inhibition of the fractional secretion rate was fully reversed after 5 h of refeeding. 7. The amount of 14C label that was incorporated into phospholipids as a fraction of total glycerolipid synthesis was doubled within 2 h of the start of refeeding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗