Glucose turnover in kelp bass (Paralabrax sp.): in vivo studies with [6-3H,6-14C]glucose

[6-3H,6-14C]glucose was injected via an indwelling arterial cannula in free-swimming, fed, and fasted kelp bass to determine hepatic glucose production, peripheral glucose uptake, minimal glucose mass, mean transit time, and the percent of carbon recycling under the two different nutritional states. Mean plasma glucose levels remained unchanged in fed and fasted fish (48+/-8 vs. 43+/-8 mg/100 ml). During steady-state conditions, glucose replacement rates of fed and fasted fish determined with [6-3H]glucose are similar (0.035+/-0.006 vs. 0.025+/-0.003 mg/min per 100 g) and do not differ from rates determined with [6-14C]glucose (0.035+/-0.005 vs. 0.026+/-0.002). The minimal glucose masses and the mean transit tim-s determined with both isotopes are also similar suggesting that plasma glucose levels and glucose turnover are maintained in fish fasted up to 40 days with no apparent increase in carbon recycling. Nonsteady-state isotope experiments suggest that these fish can alter rates of hepatic glucose production and peripheral uptake in response to hyper- and hypoglycemia.