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Arginase I expression is upregulated by dietary restriction in the liver of mice as a function of age

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Abstract

Arginase is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of l-arginine to l-ornithine and urea. This reaction comprises the final step of the urea cycle, which provides the principal route for the disposal of nitrogenous waste from protein catabolism. The present study investigates the normal endogenous activity and expression level of arginase I as a function of age in the liver of 2-, 6-, and 18-month-old mice. The effect of dietary restriction (DR) on the expression of arginase I was also investigated in two age groups of mice, 2- and 18-month old. Arginase I activity was assessed spectrophotometrically, and the level of arginase I protein was further confirmed by Western blotting analyses. Arginase I mRNA level was measured using real-time PCR. Our results show that the arginase I activity (U/mg protein) and protein level in liver was higher in 2-month-old mice and decreased gradually with age. In contrast, arginase I mRNA was observed to be higher in the older mice as compared to the younger mice. DR was seen to upregulate the arginase I activity and expression in both 2- and 18-month-old mice. The findings concluded that arginase I is down-regulated with the advancement of age in the liver of mice and is upregulated by DR. This suggests that DR plays an important role in maintaining related metabolic processes as a function of age in mice.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to the Department of Biochemistry, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong for providing research facilities under UGC-UPE, DRS, and DST-FIST, New Delhi. TM thanks Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi for the Fellowship as JRF and SRF (F.No: 09/347(0194)/2010-EMR-I).

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, 793 022, India

    Teikur Majaw & Ramesh Sharma

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  1. Teikur Majaw
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  2. Ramesh Sharma
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Correspondence to Ramesh Sharma.

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Majaw, T., Sharma, R. Arginase I expression is upregulated by dietary restriction in the liver of mice as a function of age. Mol Cell Biochem 407, 1–7 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-015-2448-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11010-015-2448-5

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