Summary
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1.
Amino acids, glucose and glycogen were measured in locust rectal tissue. Proline was found in higher concentration (66 mM) than other metabolites.
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2.
Mitochondria were isolated from recta and characterized. They oxidize a variety of substrates; however, the highest state 3 rate of O2 consumption was obtained with 30 mM proline as a substrate.
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3.
An enzyme profile of the locust rectum was compared to that of locust flight muscle. The main differences were that the flight muscle had higher activities of 3-hydroxy-acyl-CoA dehydrogenase and NAD-dependent glycerol phosphate dehydrogenase and the rectum had higher activities of enzymes involved in amino acid metabolism.
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4.
Proline appears to be the major source of energy in the locust rectum in situ and its role in supporting the work of ion transport across this epithelium is discussed.
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Abbreviations
- FCCP :
-
trifluormethoxy=carbonyl cyanide phenylhydrazone
- RCR :
-
respiratory control ratio
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This work was supported by operating grants from NSERC, Canada