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Cellular oxygen consumption depends on body mass

R K Porter1, M D Brand

  • 1Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.

The American Journal of Physiology
|July 1, 1995
PubMed
Summary

Mammal hepatocytes show decreased oxygen consumption with larger body mass, explained by lower intrinsic cell metabolic activity, not cell size. This finding clarifies metabolic scaling in mammals.

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Area of Science:

  • Comparative physiology
  • Cellular metabolism
  • Mammalian biology

Background:

  • Metabolic rate generally decreases with increasing body mass in mammals.
  • Previous studies observed lower oxygen consumption in tissue slices from larger mammals.
  • The underlying cellular mechanisms for this metabolic scaling remained unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the relationship between body mass and oxygen consumption rate in isolated hepatocytes across different mammal species.
  • To determine whether changes in cell size or intrinsic metabolic activity account for observed metabolic scaling.

Main Methods:

  • Hepatocytes were isolated from nine mammal species with varying body masses.
  • Cells were incubated under identical conditions.
  • Oxygen consumption rates per unit mass were measured.

Main Results:

  • Hepatocyte oxygen consumption rate scaled with body mass with an exponent of -0.18.
  • A 12,500-fold increase in body mass corresponded to a 5.5-fold decrease in oxygen consumption rate per unit mass.
  • The reduced consumption was attributed to decreased intrinsic metabolic activity, not increased cell volume.

Conclusions:

  • Intrinsic metabolic activity of hepatocytes decreases with increasing body mass in mammals.
  • This cellular-level adaptation explains the lower metabolic rates observed in larger mammals.
  • The findings reconcile previous observations on metabolic scaling in mammalian tissues.

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