Showing papers by "Hamish N. Munro published in 1963"

Blood corticosterone levels in the rat after administration of amino acids.

Abstract: Munro and Mukerji1 observed that the feeding of single large doses of certain individual amino-acids, notably glycine, methionine and leucine, caused a marked stimulation of uptake of phosphorus-32 by rat-liver ribonucleic acid (RNA) during the next 18 h. In the case of methionine and leucine, but not of glycine, this action was abolished by adrenalectomy2. It was therefore proposed that the increased incorporation of phosphorus-32 into liver RNA after feeding methionine or leucine was due to release of adrenocortical hormones, which are known to induce changes in liver RNA metabolism3. The experiments reported here show that, within a 24-h period of administering methionine or leucine to rats, there is an elevation of blood corticosterone-level. Administration of other amino-acids or of casein does not have this effect. These observations would thus appear to confirm the proposed mechanism of action of methionine and leucine on liver RNA metabolism.