Mammalian metabolite flux rates in a teleost: lactate and glucose turnover in tuna

Lactate and glucose turnover rates were measured by bolus injection of [U-14C]lactate and [6-3H]glucose in cannulated lightly anesthetized skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis. Our goals were to find out whether the high rates of lactate clearance reported during recovery from burst swimming in tuna could be accounted for by high blood lactate fluxes; to extend the observed correlation between lactate turnover and lactate concentration in mammals to a nonmammalian system, and to assess the importance of lactate and glucose as metabolic fuels in tuna and to compare their flux rates with values reported for mammals. Measured lactate turnover rates ranged from 112 to 431 mumol X min-1 X kg-1 and were correlated with blood lactate concentration. Glucose turnover rate averaged 15.3 mumol X min-1 X kg-1. When correcting for body mass and temperature, skipjack tuna has at least as high or even higher lactate turnover rates than those recorded for mammals. Tuna glucose turnover rate is similar to that of mammals but much higher than levels found in other teleosts. Even the highest lactate turnover rate measured in tuna cannot fully account for the rate of blood lactate clearance observed during recovery, suggesting that some of the lactate produced in skeletal muscle must be metabolized in situ. After injection of [U-14C]lactate, less than 5% of the total blood activity was recovered in glucose, suggesting that the Cori cycle is not an important pathway of lactate metabolism in tuna.