Leg exchange of amino acids during exercise in patients with arterial insufficiency

Intermittent claudication is associated with adaptation in muscle metabolism. This study has evaluated the metabolism of amino acids at rest and during non-steady state exercise in patients with arterial insufficiency of at least six months duration in comparison with matched control individuals. The exchange of amino acids were measured during two periods of acute exercise; one initial exercise period with a standardized work load and exercise time and a second exercise period which continued until further exercise was impossible due to pain in the patients and exhaustion in the controls. The maximum blood flow was reduced by 40% in the patients but the maximum oxygen uptake per unit power developed was almost the same in patients and controls. The patients had significantly lower concentrations of glutamine, lysine and taurine at rest compared with the controls. The exchange of amino acids across the resting leg did not differ between the two groups. Exercise increased the efflux of amino acids in both patients and controls. The efflux of glutamine (896 +/- 205 vs. 48 +/- 359 nmol/100 ml/min/watt) was higher in the patients compared to the controls at the first exercise period with inverse changes in the opposite direction of asparagine (149 +/- 105 vs. 799 +/- 121 and 27 +/- 70 vs. 633 +/- 334 nmol/100 ml/min/watt at the first and second exercise, respectively. Alanine release did not differ between the groups. The complementary patterns of glutamine and asparagine during hypoxic exercise in the patients may reflect the fact that these amino acids share a common carrier system. The similarity in the efflux of non-metabolized amino acids, such as methionine, phenylalanine, tyrosine and 3-methylhistidine, indicated that muscle hypoxia in claudication patients did not promote net degradation of either globular or myofibrillar proteins, although exercise increased the efflux of 3-methylhistidine three- to fourfold in both patients and control individuals (from 1 +/- 0.4 to 4 +/- 1.8 and from 0 +/- 0.7 to 6 +/- 2.5 nmol/100 ml/min/watt, respectively). The exercise-induced alterations in leg exchange of amino acids were restored within 10-20 min following exercise regardless of hypoxia. The results demonstrate that patients with arterial insufficiency have altered intermediary metabolism of amino acids during exercise. However, muscle hypoxia in such patients does not seem to promote a negative protein balance or induce serious alterations in cell membrane integrity.