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Hepatic gluconeogenesis from alanine following surgery

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Abstract

To clarify alanine metabolism in the liver with special reference to gluconeogenesis, catheters were placed in hepatic, portal, femoral, and external jugular veins of six male mongrel dogs. A trace amount of14C-alanine was administered as a single pulse into the external jugular vein on the first postoperative day, and the blood samples were taken from each vein for the subsequent two hours to measure14C-glucose radioactivity. Cumulative radioactivity after14C-alanine injection showed that 74 per cent of the radioactivity in whole protein-free serum was that of14C-glucose. Therefore, it is considered that the metabolic pathway of alanine in the liver after surgery is mainly through gluconeogenesis to glucose. Ourin vivo experiment clearly showed that hepatic gluconeogenesis from alanine is one of the important factors related to hyperglycemia after surgery.

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Yoshikawa, K., Setsu, M., Mishina, T. et al. Hepatic gluconeogenesis from alanine following surgery. The Japanese Journal of Surgery 12, 286–295 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02469563

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