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The effects of space flight on some rat liver enzymes regulating carbohydrate and lipid metabolismThe effects of space flight conditions on the activities of certain enzymes regulating carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in rat liver are investigated in an attempt to account for the losses in body weight observed during space flight despite preflight caloric consumption. Liver samples were analyzed for the activities of 32 cytosolic and microsomal enzymes as well as hepatic glycogen and individual fatty acid levels for ground control rats and rats flown on board the Cosmos 936 biosatellite under normal space flight conditions and in centrifuges which were sacrificed upon recovery or 25 days after recovery. Significant decreases in the activities of glycogen phosphorylase, alpha-glycerol phosphate acyl transferase, diglyceride acyl transferase, aconitase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and an increase in palmitoyl CoA desaturase are found in the flight stationary relative to the flight contrifuged rats upon recovery, with all enzymes showing alterations returning to normal values 25 days postflight. The flight stationary group is also observed to be characterized by more than twice the amount of liver glycogen of the flight centrifuged group as well as a significant increase in the ratio of palmitic to palmitoleic acid. Results thus indicate metabolic changes which may be involved in the mechanism of weight loss during weightlessness, and demonstrate the equivalence of centrifugation during space flight to terrestrial gravity.
Document ID
19810055977
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Abraham, S.
(Bruce Lyon Memorial Research Lab. Oakland, CA, United States)
Lin, C. Y.
(Children's Hospital Medical Center Bruce Lyon Memorial Research Laboratory, Oakland, CA, United States)
Klein, H. P.
(Bruce Lyon Memorial Research Lab. Oakland, CA, United States)
Volkmann, C.
(NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 11, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1981
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Accession Number
81A40381
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NAS2-9523
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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