Protein metabolism in weanling rats with hypothalamic obesity.

Our findings indicate that protein synthesis is enhanced in weanling rats with hypothalamic obesity, that this enhancement is not dependent on increased amino acid transport into cells, and that muscle protein breakdown is also enhanced in these rats. The mechanisms of these changes are yet to be discovered. Finally, muscle protein has been demonstrated to be a probable source of the amino acids required to support enhanced gluconeogenesis in these rats.