Metabolite‐Controlled Phosphorylation of Phosphofructokinase in Rat Hepatocytes

The effect of glucose on the phosphorylation of phosphofructokinase has been investigated in hepatocytes isolated froin fed and 24‐h‐starved rats by measuring the 32 P radioactivity associated with the enzyme. In addition, the effects of gluconeogenic precursors and of glucagon or Bt 2 cAMP were followed under these conditions. The basal incorporation of phosphate into phosphofructokinase in hepatocytes from starved and fed rats was 0.2 ± 0.1 and 0.6±0.2 mol phosphate/mol phosphofructokinase (tetramer) respectively, whereas the maximal incorporation obtained was 1.03 ± 0.2 mol phosphate/mol phosphofructokinase. With 16 mM l ‐lactate + 4 mM pyruvate or with 20 mM l ‐alanine, the phosphorylation of the enzyme was lower than the basal incorporation found in hepatocytes from fed and starved rats. Glucose (20 mM) addition to isolated hepatocytes from fed rats resulted in an increase in the incorporation phosphate into phosphofructokinase to almost maximal value. In hepatocytes isolated from starved rats, glucose led to a 2.5‐fold increase of phosphorylation as compared to the basal incorporation. l ‐Alanine (20 mM) abolished the glucose‐induced phosphorylation in hepatocytes from starved and from fed animals. Glucagon (0.1 μM) did not significantly enhance thc phosphorylation of phospliofructokinase in the presence of l ‐lactate + pyruvate in hepatocytes from starved rats, but stimulated the phosphorylation to maximal value when cells had been preincubated in the presence of glucose. In contrast, in liver cells isolated from fed rats. glucagon had no additional effect on phosphofructokinase pliosphorylation in the presence of glucose, but did increase the phosphorylation to maximal value when l ‐lactate + pyruvate served as substrates. l ‐Alanine inhibited the glucose‐induced phosphorylation of phosphofructokinase also in the presence of glucagon. In contrast, glucagon stimulated the phosphorylation of l ‐type pyruvate kinase independently from exogenous precursors and from the nutritional state of the animals. Bt 2 cAMP (0.1 mM) as glucagon, did not significantly enhance the phosphorylation of phosphofructokinase above the level obtained with glucose alone in hepatocytes from fed rats, but did increase the velocity of the phosphate incorporation in hepatocytes from starved rats, thus leading under both conditions to the maximal incorporation. It is concluded that the degree of phosphorylation of rat liver phosphofructokinase is affected by the metabolic state, and that glucagon (or CAMP) acts indirectly, probably by changing glucose metabolism due to increased glycogenolysis rather than by an activation of a CAMP‐dependent protein kinase.