Abstract
Stephen and Waterlow1 have described the use of carbon-14-labelled arginine to measure the catabolic rate of serum and liver proteins in normal rats and rats fed on a diet deficient in protein. Differential assay of the isotope activity in the C(1) and C(6) atoms of arginine shows a variation in values between the true and apparent half lives of the proteins. The technique is of value for studying the recycling of amino-acids and for measuring catabolic rates. The authors have made the observations that the decrease in protein catabolic rate and the increased recycling of amino-acids which occur in the rats fed a diet free of protein may constitute an adaptive phenomenon for the conservation of protein in the deficient animal.
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Stephen, J. M. L., and Waterlow, J. C., Nature, 211, 978 (1966).
McCathie, M., Owen, J. A., and Macpherson, A. I. S., Scot. Med. J., 11, 83 (1966).
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Reeve, E. B., Takeda, Y., and Atencio, A., Commun. to the Fourteenth Colloq., Protides of the Biological Fuids, 1966 (in the press).
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LANE, R. Use of Carbon-14-labelled Arginine to measure Catabolic Rates of Proteins and the Recycling of Amino-acids. Nature 214, 1331 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/2141331a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2141331a0
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