Metabolism of glutamine in lymphocytes

Pathways of glutamine metabolism in resting and proliferating rat thymocytes and established human T- and B-lymphoblastoid cell lines were evaluated by in vitro incubations of freshly prepared or cultured cells for one to two hours with [U¹⁴C]glutamine. Complete recovery of glutamine carbons utilized in products allowed quantification of the pathways of glutamine metabolism under the experimental conditions. Partial oxidation of glutamine via 2-oxoglutarate in a truncated citric acid cycle to CO₂ and oxaloacetate, which then was converted to aspartate, accounted for 76% and 69%, respectively, of the glutamine metabolized beyond the stage of glutamate by resting and proliferating thymocytes. Similar results were obtained with the lymphoblastoid T- and B-cell lines. Complete oxidation to CO₂ in the citric acid cycle via 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase and isocitrate dehydrogenase accounted for only 25% and 7%, respectively. In proliferating cells a substantial amount of glutamine carbons was also recovered in pyruvate, alanine, and especially lactate. The main route of glutamine and glutamate entrance into the citric acid cycle via 2-oxoglutarate in lymphocytes appears to be transamination by aspartate aminotransferase rather than oxidative deamination by glutamate dehydrogenase. In the presence of glucose as a second substrate, glutamine utilization and aspartate formation markedly decreased, but complete oxidation of glutamine carbons to CO₂ increased to 37% and 23%, respectively, in resting and proliferating cells. The dipeptide, glycyl-l-glutamine, which is more stable than free glutamine, can substitute for glutamine in thymocyte cultures at higher concentrations.