Protein synthesis rate is not suppressed in rat heart during senescence

The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether mixed protein synthesis rates in hearts of Fischer 344 rats were decreased from maturity to senescence. When compared with 12-mo-old rat hearts, hearts from 23- to 25-mo-old rats had 13% lower concentrations of noncollagen protein, 9% less non-collagen protein per heart, 10% higher ratio of heart wet weight-to-body weight, and no difference in the basal rate of mixed protein synthesis, when expressed as fractional rate per day. Despite the 9% decrease in total noncollagen protein in 23- to 25-mo-old rat hearts, the derived value for milligrams protein synthesized per day was not different between age groups. When triiodothyronine was given for 3 days to mature and senescent rats, fractional rates of mixed protein synthesis were increased by similar percents (57-70%) in hearts from these two age groups. Basal and triiodothyronine-stimulated RNA concentrations in hearts of 12-mo-old and 23- to 25-mo-old rats were not different. These observations showed no decrease in either the basal or the maximal thyroid-stimulated rates of mixed protein synthesis in the hearts between mature and senescent rats. Thus an aging-programmed downregulation of mixed protein synthesis rates within cardiac muscle did not occur in the senescent Fischer 344 rat heart in this study.