Relationship between a long-term treatment of 2-mercaptoethanol and protein metabolism in the ageing rat

✍ Scribed by V. Albrecht; L. Pénzes; K. J. Petzke; K. Hoppe

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag
• Year: 1992
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 536 KB
• Volume: 162
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0174-1578
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00264816

✦ Synopsis

Female RLEF1/Lati rats were chronically treated with 2-mercaptoethanol in a dose of 13 micrograms.100 g bw-1.day-1 dissolved in drinking water. During a 48-h experiment 15N-labelled glycine was given orally in a dose of 5 mg 15N.kg bw-1 and urine samples were collected and analysed by an emission spectrometric isotope method. Protein synthesis and nitrogen excretion rate constants were calculated according to the three-pool model, and 3-methylhistidine excretion rates were also determined. 2-Mercaptoethanol appears to influence protein metabolism; however, the slower rates of protein synthesis proved to be apparent in almost all groups of treated rats. Protein synthesis and nitrogen excretion rate constants have exceptionally high values in 2-year-old rats, possibly explained by the occurrence of hypercompensation mechanisms in old age. These were reflected by the excretion rates of 3-methylhistidine which were reduced as a result of sulphhydryl group interactions in age-dependent cellular metabolic changes.