Kinetics of glucose metabolism in sheep.
The kinetics of glucose cycling in 24 ewes bearing twins were studied 1 month before term by bolus injections of [6-3H]- and [U-14C]glucose. The function representing glucose carbon recycling was determined by deconvolution of the [3H]glucose from the [14C]glucose decay curves in plasma by using the SAAM and CONSAM programs, and a model for kinetics of glucose cycling was developed. The [3H]glucose data were fitted by four compartments, and an additional three compartments were required to explain recycling. The results show that labelled carbon was still recycling to plasma 2 days after the injection of tracer. By contrast, a similar analysis on a non-pregnant sheep, with data taken from the literature, showed that no more material was recycled after 1 day. It appears that a larger fraction (20 v. 5%) of the carbon 6 of glucose recycles in pregnant than in non-pregnant sheep. This presumably reflects the metabolism by the feto-placental unit and the increased rate of glucose metabolism during pregnancy.
D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D005260:Female; D007700:Kinetics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal; D012756:Sheep / Q000378:metabolism*; D012984:Software; D014316:Tritium
D001786:Blood Glucose; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D014316:Tritium