Effect of growth hormone on conjugation of ingested glycine with aromatic acids

¹ Edsel B. Ford Institute for Medical Research, Henry Ford Hospital, Deeroit, Michigan

Benzoate or phenylacetate was added to the food of normal adult bitches to bring about biosynthesis of hippuric or phenaceturic acid at a rate which, for each acid, was comparable in experiments with and without growth hormone. Utilization of ingested N¹⁵-labeled glycine for these syntheses was determined in control experiments and in growth hormone experiments at the time of maximal nitrogen storage induced by treating the same animals with 5 mg of hormone daily for 4 days. The total amount, as well as the amount per mole, of labeled glycine incorporated into hippuric acid was greater in growth hormone than in control experiments throughout a 72-hr period of observation. During the first 6 hr after ingestion of labeled glycine, the rate of its incorporation into phenaceturic acid was also increased by growth hormone, but the total amount utilized for this synthesis in 72 hr was unaffected. A previously demonstrated effect of growth hormone on utilization of N¹⁵ from glycine for purposes other than synthesis of hippuric or phenaceturic acid was not prevented or notably reduced by feeding benzoate or phenylacetate.