Vol. 301, Issue 3, 930-937, June 2002

Nicotine Increases Hepatic Oxygen Uptake in the Isolated Perfused Rat Liver by Inhibiting Glycolysis

Brian J. Dewar, Blair U. Bradford and Ronald G. Thurman

Laboratory of Hepatobiology and Toxicology, Department of Pharmacology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Nicotine influences energy metabolism, yet mechanisms remain unclear. Since the liver is one of the largest organs and performs many metabolic functions, the goal of this study was to determine whether nicotine would affect respiration and other metabolic functions in the isolated perfused liver. Infusion of 85 µM nicotine caused a rapid 10% increase in oxygen uptake over basal values of 105 ± 5 µmol/g/h in perfused livers from fed rats, and an increase of 27% was observed with 850 µM nicotine. Concomitantly, rates of glycolysis of 105 ± 8 µmol/g/h were decreased to 52 ± 9 µmol/g/h with nicotine, whereas ketone body production was unaffected. Nicotine had no effect on oxygen uptake in glycogen-depleted livers from 24-h fasted rats. Furthermore, addition of glucose to perfused livers from fasted rats partially restored the stimulatory effect of nicotine. Infusion of atractyloside, potassium cyanide, or glucagon blocked the nicotine-induced increase in respiration. Intracellular calcium was increased in isolated hepatocytes by nicotine, a phenomenon prevented by incubation of cells with d-tubocurarine, a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist. Respiration was also increased ~30% in hepatocytes isolated from fed rats by nicotine, whereas hepatocytes isolated from fasted rats showed little response. In the presence of N-[2-(p-bromocinnamylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide (H-89), an inhibitor of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase A, nicotine failed to stimulate respiration. These data support the hypothesis that inhibition of glycolysis by nicotine increases oxygen uptake due to an ADP-dependent increase in mitochondrial respiration.