Amino Acid Transport by the Hepatic Cell in Cloudy Swelling

Abstract

Summary

Amino acid transport in normal rat livers and in livers with toxin-induced cloudy swelling has been studied using a-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB), an amino acid analogue which undergoes concentrative transfer similar to that of the naturally occurring amino acids. Under the experimental conditions used in this work, the intracellular concentration of AIB approaches equilibrium exponentially in both types of tissue. Swelling markedly enhances the rate of AIB transfer across the cell membrane and doubles the value of its final distribution in the intracellular water. This increase is still higher if expressed in terms of individual cells. The significance of these observations with respect to the increased incorporation rate of labelled amino acids into protein found in livers with cloudy swelling is discussed.