Glutamine metabolism in the avian host bearing transplantable hepatomatous growth induced by MC-29 virus

Abstract 1. 1. The concentrations of free amino acids have been determined in the sera of chickens bearing transplanted hepatomatous growths induced by MC-29 virus and their pair-fed controls. Decreases in serine and glutamine concentrations were observed when the tumors developed; the latter being more prominent. 2. 2. Glutamine synthetase activities in the liver and thigh muscle were increased as the tumors grew larger. 3. 3. Elevation of serum uric acid was observed in the tumor-bearing chickens. 4. 4. Liver glutamine-PRPP-amidotransferase activity was not affected by the tumor growth. 5. 5. In the hepatomatous tissue, activity of glutamine synthetase was low and below one-tenth of that in liver. Glutaminase activities, phosphate-dependent and phosphate-independent, were increased. Glutamine-PRPP-amidotransferase activity was about half compared to that in liver.