Effect of insulin on muscle glutamate uptake. Whole blood versus plasma glutamate analysis

For decades, investigators concerned with protein metabolism in man have performed detailed amino acid analyses of human plasma obtained under a wide range of experimental situations. A large body of information has been used to calculated rates of protein synthesis and proteolysis. During the course of an investigation of the effect of intrabrachial artery infusion of insulin (70 muU/min per kg body weight) on glutamate uptake by human forearm muscle, it was discovered that plasma arterio-deep venous glutamate difference analysis failed to document any increase in the uptake of this amino acid, suggesting that insulin had little influence on glutamate uptake by muscle. However, whole blood glutamate analyses, performed on the same blood samples, revealed that (a) the resting muscle uptake of glutamate is smaller than previously reported and (b) insulin is capable of markedly increasing glutamate uptake by muscle from whole blood. Since the hematocrit was obtained on all samples, detailed analyses of the various compartments in which glutamate could be found were performed. It was determined that circulating blood cells have a dynamic role in glutamate transport. These data underscore the need for both whole blood and plasma amino acid analysis in investigations concerned with protein synthesis and/or amino acid flux, for analysis of plasma samples alone could be misleading as illustrated in the present study.