A model was developed in the rat using a nerve crush procedure, as a form of temporary denervation, to block neural input to the hindlimb muscle of one leg. The nerve crush has the advantage of allowing self-reinnervation of the muscles after regrowth of the damaged nerve, which occurred (in this study) after approximately 14 days. The initial denervation-like phase resulted in a large loss of muscle mass over the subsequent few days which was mostly through a loss of muscle protein. The results demonstrate the correlation between the concentration of glutamine in the muscles and the rate of protein synthesis over the first 3 days after the nerve crush, but other metabolites (alanine, lactate, and glutamate) were seen to react much more rapidly, with significant changes recorded in the first hour after injury. Further studies were undertaken in an attempt to find a link between these acute changes and the later changes in protein and glutamine metabolism. It was demonstrated that these rapid changes were not as a result of a local hypoglycemia, although a reduction in the rate of in vivo glucose uptake was reduced within 4 hours of the nerve crush. Similarly, measurement of activities of key glycolytic enzymes suggested that there were no acute changes in flux through the glycolytic pathway. Finally, a difference in regional blood flow was demonstrated in the experimental muscles and it was concluded that the acute changes in metabolite concentrations might result from simple physiological changes, in response to the anaesthesia and/or the surgical procedure, which subsequently resolved in the innervated, but not the nerve-deprived, muscles.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:592091 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Baillie, Andrew G. S. |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk/R?func=search-advanced-go&find_code1=WSN&request1=AAIU059079 |
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