Summary
Resting metabolic rates have been measured and compared with hepatic mitochondrial respiration in Kwashiorkor and diet-induced obese weaned rats. In Kwashiorkor, resting metabolic rate was 21% lower than the value of controls, while that of the obese rats was 14% higher than in control animals. The resting metabolic rate for Kwashiorkor animals was 50% of the predicted basal metabolic rate (BMR), whereas that of the obese rats was 23% higher than the predicted BMR. The mitochondrial oxygen consumption patterns, using malate plus glutamate or succinate as respiratory substrates, revealed that the resting respiration (state 4) was 23.9% higher in Kwashiorkor and 29.1% higher in obese animals, while the active (state 3) respiration was 34.8% lower in Kwashiorkor and 43.3% lower in obese rats compared to controls. The respiratory control ratios (RCR) were 51.1% and 43.8% in Kwashiorkor and obese rats, respectively, relative to the values in control rats. It is concluded from these studies that Kwashiorkor disease and diet-induced obesity appear to interfere with oxygen utilization at the level of state 3 mitochondrial respiration, which is markedly decreased when compared to the values for control animals.
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Abbreviations
- BMR :
-
basal metabolic rate
- CPD :
-
commercially produced diet
- KWD :
-
low protein, high carbohydrate diet
- OBD :
-
high fat diet
- PEM :
-
protein-energy malnutrition
- RCR :
-
respiratory control ratios
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Present address: Department of Biochemistry, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya
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Olowookere, J.O., Konji, V.N., Makawiti, D.W. et al. Defects in resting metabolic rates and mitochondrial respiration in Kwashiorkor and dietary obese rats. J Comp Physiol B 161, 319–322 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00262314
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00262314