• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.89-97
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• 1992

In hypoxic tissue conditions, pyruvate can not enter the Krebs cycle and lactic acid, produced from pyruvate, accumulates to induce lactic acidosis. Pyruvate, However, can also be converted to alanine by glutamate pyruvate transaminase, that could be enhanced by glutamate. Therefore, it would be a fundamental measure to treat the lactic acidosis in tissue hypoxic conditions when one can convert the accumulated lactic acid, through pyruvate, to alanine. To test the above hypothesis, we induced a lactic acidosis in cats and the effect of glutamate on recovery of acid base state and removal of the lactic acid from blood were assessed and the results were compared with those of bicarbonate administration, which is one of the most frequently used conventional measure for correction of the acid base state during lactic acidosis. The results were that glutamate and combined glutamate bicarbonate solutions not only restored the acid base status completely from the lactic acidosis in an hour or two, but also restored the blood level of lactate partially. We concluded that administration of glutamate solution to convert pyruvate into alanine is effective in preventing lactic acid accumulation and treating lactic acidosis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.437-443
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• 1984

Muscular exercise induced by electrical stimulation of femoral nerves in perfused rat hindquarters(5 contractions per sec) in the presence of insulin and glucose effected a rapid increase(c. a. two-fold) in the level of citric acid cycle intermediates. The highest values were found within one minute of stimulation. The tissue concent ratios of lactate, pyruvate and alanine increased rapidly on initiation of exercese. Release of lactate also increased rapidly, whereas that of pyruvate was only moderately elevated. In the course of three minute exercese, the sum of alanine, glutamate and aspartate was only transiently elevated. A fall in creatine-p and ATP in the stimulated muscle was accompanied by increases in tissue level of AMP and release of ammonia into perfusing medium. However, the changes in glutamine were small. It is concluded that the pool of citric acid cycle intermediates is expanded during muscular work due (a) to an elevated level of pyruvate, leading to shifts in the levels of alanine and cycle intermediates vie trans-amination reactions and (b) to stimulation of the purine nucleotide cycle due to elevated AMP, resulting in generation of cycle intermediates and ammonia at the expense of aspartate.