NUTRITIONAL AND METABOLIC EFFECTS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF MILD OROTIC ACIDURIA DURING DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION WITH ARGININE OR ITS ORGANIC SALTS AFTER TRAUMA INJURY IN RATS

The effects of acute food deprivation and subsequent refeeding with is onitrogenous oral liquid diets supplemented with arginine (ARG), ARG a lpha-ketoglutarate (AKG), or ARG alpha-ketoisocaproate (AKIC) were exa mined in a Sprague-Dawley rat trauma model (bilateral femur fracture). Both control and trauma rats were starved for 2 days and then pair-fe d for 4 days with one of four liquid isonitrogenous diets: diet 1 was a basal casein-based diet, and diets 2, 3, and 4 were the basal diet i n which 10% of the nitrogen was replaced by ARG, AKG, or AKIC nitrogen . Two days of starvation resulted in a 13% loss of body weight and als o a 27% decrease in the excretion of erotic acid (OA) in control and t rauma rats. Although the ARG content of diets 2, 3, and 4 was the same , ARG- and AKIC-supplemented rats excreted significantly (P <.05) more OA than AKG-fed rats. The low level of OA excretion in AKG-fed rats i ndicates greater use of ARG for metabolic purposes, including efficien t urea cycle operation. The metabolic adaptation and nutritional effic acy, ie, increased nitrogen retention, larger weight gain, and altered amino acid (AA) metabolism, of AKIC rats seem to be better than in AR G- or AKG-fed rats. Copyright (C) 1997 by W.B. Saunders Company.