Metabolism of guanine and guanine nucleotides in primary rat cardiomyocyte cultures

The metabolic fate of labeled guanine and of prelabeled guanine nucleotides (GuRN) was studied in cultured rat cardiomyocytes. Special attention was given to guanine salvage in comparison to degradation; to the contribution of GuRN to adenine nucleotides (AdRN); to the fluxes from GMP to IMP and from IMP to GMP; and to the degradation pathways of GuRN. In accordance with the 3- to 4-fold higher activity of guanine deaminase (guanase), in comparison to that of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT), the rate of guanine deamination to xanthine exceeded that of guanine incorporation into nucleotides (at 4 μM) by 13.2-fold. The label from guanine incorporated into nucleotides was found mainly (81%) in GuRN, but also in IMP and AdRN. The prelabeled GuRN lost 43% of the label in 4 h, reflecting mainly degradation to xanthine (and uric acid) and synthesis of nucleic acids. Blocking nucleoside degradation was associated with a marked accumulation of label in guanosine sine and inosine (guanosine/inosine labeling ratio is 1.25). The results indicate that in the myocardium guanine is a poor substrate for salvage synthesis of GuRN and that its contribution to the homeostasis of adenine nucleotides is negligible; that GMP degradation to xanthine proceeds through both guanosine and IMP; and that the cardiomyocytes contain the activity of GMP reductase and of the enzymes converting IMP to GMP.