Glycolysis and gluconeogenesis in the liver of catfish fed with different concentrations of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates.

The activities of enzymes from a number of metabolic pathways have been used as a tool to evaluate the best use of nutrients on fish performance. In the present study the catfish Rhamdia quelen was fed with diets containing crude protein-lipid-carbohydrate (%) as follows: treatment (T) T1: 19-19-44; T2: 26-15-39; T3: 33-12-33; and T4: 40-10-24. The fish were held in tanks of re-circulated, filtered water with controlled temperature and aeration in 2000L experimental units. The feeding experiment lasted 30 days. The following enzymes of the carbohydrate metabolism were determined: Glucokinase (GK), Phosphofructokinase 1 (PFK-1), Pyruvate kinase (PK), Fructose-1,6-biphosphatase 1 (FBP-1). The activities of 6 phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH) and glucose 6 phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) were also assayed. The influence of nutrient levels on the enzyme activities is reported. The increase of dietary protein plus reduction of carbohydrates and lipids attenuates the glycolytic activity and induces hepatic gluconeogenesis as a strategy to provide metabolic energy from amino acids. The fish performance was affected by the concentrations of protein, lipid and carbohydrates in the diet. The greatest weight gain was obtained in fish fed diet T4 containing 40.14% of crude protein, 9.70% of lipids, and 24.37% of carbohydrate, respectively.201

Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4alpha transactivates the mitochondrial alanine aminotransferase gene in the kidney of Sparus aurata

Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) plays an important role in amino acid metabolism and gluconeogenesis. The preference of carnivorous fish for protein amino acids instead of carbohydrates as a source of energy lead us to study the transcriptional regulation of the mitochondrial ALT (mALT) gene and to characterize the enzyme kinetics and modulation of mALT expression in the kidney of gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) under different nutritional and hormonal conditions. 5′-Deletion analysis of mALT promoter in transiently transfected HEK293 cells, site-directed mutagenesis and electrophoretic mobility shift assays allowed us to identify HNF4α as a new factor involved in the transcriptional regulation of mALT expression. Quantitative RT-PCR assays showed that starvation and the administration of streptozotocin (STZ) decreased HNF4α levels in the kidney of S. aurata, leading to the downregulation of mALT transcription. Analysis of the tissue distribution showed that kidney, liver, and intestine were the tissues with higher mALT and HNF4α expression. Kinetic analysis indicates that mALT enzyme is more efficient in catalyzing the conversion of L-alanine to pyruvate than the reverse reaction. From these results, we conclude that HNF4α transactivates the mALT promoter and that the low levels of mALT expression found in the kidney of starved and STZ-treated fish result from a decreased expression of HNF4α. Our findings suggest that the mALT isoenzyme plays a major role in oxidazing dietary amino acids, and points to ALT as a target for a biotechnological action to spare protein and optimize the use of dietary nutrients for fish culture