Studies on the Biosynthesis of Flavin Nucleotides from 2-14C-Riboflavin by Rat Liver and Kidney

Abstract

2-¹⁴C-Riboflavin was injected subcutaneously into young adult rats to study the biosynthesis of flavin mononucleotide (FMN) and flavin–adenine dinucleotide (FAD) in the liver and kidneys. Animals were sacrificed at different time intervals following the administration of labelled riboflavin (RF), and radioactive flavins were determined in their tissues by a newly devised method. Both tissues accumulated radioactive riboflavin rapidly and peak levels were obtained at 90 min after the injection, when over 80% of the total radioactivity of the liver was present in FAD. At this time the liver contained 17% of the injected dose of 2-¹⁴C-RF. The kidneys contained relatively high quantities of free RF due to the concentration and urinary excretion of the vitamin.Analysis of subcellular fractions of the liver of animals injected with 2-¹⁴C-RF revealed that most of the radioactivity was present in mitochondria and nuclei. The flavin nucleotides of rat liver cytosol became progressively associated with macromolecules in vivo. However, there was no significant binding of free RF by macromolecules in blood plasma or liver cytosol.Kinetic studies and incubations with liver slices indicated that RF freely diffuses into the liver cells, is rapidly converted into FAD, and becomes attached to apoenzymes. The tissue uptake of RF and FMN formation is considerably influenced by the concentration of RF present in the system, both in vivo and in vitro.