title: The change in the supply with reduction equivalents in different organs of the rat during aging.
abstract: The rate of metabolic kinetics and the frequency of biological cycles may be correlated with the rate of aging and the maximum life-span potential. Therefore, investigation either into changes with age of such parameters within one species or into differences between species may give some information about the genetic programming of the aging process. Male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 3.5, 7, 12, 17, 23, and 33 months (m) were used to determine the changes with age of those metabolic pathways mentioned in the title, using the liver (LI), kidney (KI), brain (BR), heart (HE) and the skeletal muscle (SM). The maximum percentage of glucose utilization via the pentose pathway, compared to the total glucose utilization, was calculated after intravenous administration of D-[1-14C]- and D-[6-14C]glucose by the determination of the trioses (as lipids) 3 hours after the application. Furthermore, in rats aged 13 and 25 m the kinetics of both glucoses was measured in liver, kidney, heart, brain, skeletal muscle, spleen (SP), and testes (TE) during the first 3 hours after application. Pentose pathway values were calculated. The results indicate a decrease in the glucose utilization via the pentose pathway in the course of aging in liver, kidney, heart and skeletal muscle and a decrease from 3.5 months on in brain, younger rats exhibit a higher rate of glucose utilization via the pentose pathway as do old ones, the reduction of the pentose pathway may possibly be the cause of higher lipofuscin accumulation in the cells of some organs, lacking sufficient reduction equivalents for lipid metabolism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gerontology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Niedermüller
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hofecker
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Skalicky
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D007668:Kidney / Q000502:physiology; D008099:Liver / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism; D010427:Pentose Phosphate Pathway / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D014022:Tissue Survival / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose