The FASEB Journal, Vol 4, 95-100, Copyright © 1990 by The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Altered carbohydrate, lipid, and xenobiotic metabolism by liver from rats flown on Cosmos 1887 [published erratum appears in FASEB J 1990 May;4(8):2539]

AH Merrill Jr, M Hoel, E Wang, RE Mullins, JL Hargrove, DP Jones and IA Popova
Department of Biochemistry, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322.

To determine the possible biochemical effects of prolonged weightlessness on liver function, samples of liver from rats that had flown aboard Cosmos 1887 were analyzed for protein, glycogen, and lipids as well as the activities of a number of key enzymes involved in metabolism of these compounds and xenobiotics. Among the parameters measured, the major differences were elevations in the glycogen content and hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase activities for the rats flown on Cosmos 1887 and decreases in the amount of microsomal cytochrome P-450 and the activities of aniline hydroxylase and ethylmorphine N-demethylase, cytochrome P-450-dependent enzymes. These results support the earlier finding of differences in these parameters and suggest that altered hepatic function could be important during spaceflight and/or the postflight recovery period.

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