Plasma kinetic of ingested essential amino acids in healthy elderly people.
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the documented difficulties of physiological amounts of essential amino acids (EAAs) (7 g) to induce protein synthesis could be reflected in a simple method adaptable to a clinical setting. Sixteen healthy individuals, nine elderly (75.3 ± 3.5 years), and seven young (28 ± 2.5 years) were enrolled in the study. Five minutes before EAA ingestion (baseline) and 20, 40, 60, 90, 120, 180 min after EAA ingestion, venous blood samples were taken from the ante-cubital vein to determine the concentrations of EAAs (μmol/L). The results show that plasma EAA increases were significantly higher in old than in young persons at the considered time points (from p < 0.004 to p < 0.001) (unpaired Student t test). However, the velocity rate of the increasing was slower in old subjects than in young group. The study shows that EAAs ingestion by old subject is associated with reduced muscle EAA uptake.
Dipartimento di Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Viale Taramelli, 14, 27100, Pavia, Italy, annamaria.condino@unipv.it.
Anna Maria
AM
Condino
Roberto
R
Aquilani
Evasio
E
Pasini
Paolo
P
Iadarola
Simona
S
Viglio
Manuela
M
Verri
Luca
L
D'Agostino
Federica
F
Boschi
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood* / Q000378:metabolism; D000601:Amino Acids, Essential / Q000097:blood* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology
D000601:Amino Acids, Essential