Rates of protein synthesis in skin and bone, and their importance in the assessment of protein degradation in the perfused rat hemicorpus

The perfused rat hemicorpus preparation, which has frequently been used to study muscle metabolism, contains 39% by weight of non-muscle tissue such as skin and bone. Both the concentration of RNA and the incorporation of [U-14C]tyrosine into protein indicate that the non-muscle components are more active in protein synthesis than is muscle. These observations have important implications for studies of amino acid metabolism, and in particular for the measurement of muscle protein degradation in the hemicorpus.