Carnitine palmitoyltransferase I control of acetogenesis, the major pathway of fatty acid β-oxidation in liver of neonatal swine

To examine the regulation of hepatic acetogenesis in neonatal swine, carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT I) activity was measured in the presence of varying palmitoyl-CoA (substrate) and malonyl-CoA (inhibitor) concentrations, and [1-¹⁴C]-palmitate oxidation was simultaneously measured. Accumulation rates of ¹⁴C-labeled acetate, ketone bodies, and citric acid cycle intermediates within the acid-soluble products were determined using radio-HPLC. Measurements were conducted in mitochondria isolated from newborn, 24-h (fed or fasted), and 5-mo-old pigs. Acetate rather than ketone bodies was the predominant radiolabeled product, and its production increased twofold with increasing fatty acid oxidation during the first 24-h suckling period. The rate of acetogenesis was directly proportional to CPT I activity. The high activity of CPT I in 24-h-suckling piglets was not attributable to an increase in CPT I gene expression, but rather to a large decrease in the sensitivity of CPT I to malonyl-CoA inhibition, which offset a developmental decrease in affinity of CPT I for palmitoyl-CoA. Specifically, the IC₅₀ for malonyl-CoA inhibition and Km value for palmitoyl-CoA measured in 24-h-suckling pigs were 1.8- and 2.7-fold higher than measured in newborn pigs. The addition of anaplerotic carbon from malate (10 mM) significantly reduced ¹⁴C accumulation in acetate (P<0.003); moreover, the reduction was much greater in newborn (80%) than in 24-h-fed (72%) and 5-mo-old pigs (55%). The results demonstrate that acetate is the primary product of hepatic mitochondrial β-oxidation in Sus scrofa and that regulation during early development is mediated primarily via kinetic modulation of CPT I.