Effect of diabetes and fasting on the uridine triphosphate content and uridine kinase activity of rat cardiac and skeletal muscle.

The influence of diabetes and starvation on uracil nucleotide metabolism in muscle was studied. It was found that the uridine triphosphate (UTP) content of heart and diaphragm muscle was decreased in fasted and streptozotocin-diabetic rats and that insulin treatment of diabetic animals restored the UTP concentration to normal levels. The ATP content of heart tissue was not altered under these conditions. It was also demonstrated that hemidiaphragms from streptozotocin-diabetic rats synthesized less UTP from uridine in vitro than hemidiaphragms from normal animals. Uridine kinase activity of extracts of cardiac and skeletal muscle from fasted and diabetic rats was lower than the activity found in extracts from control animals. It was concluded that uracil nucleotide synthesis by the salvage pathway is decreased in experimental diabetes and fasting.