Found the original study which is book length so only a small portion is represented below. Go to the web address for an extended read.
http://physrev.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/80/3/1107
B. Regulation of Transport of Cr, PCr, ADP, and ATP Across Biological Membranes
Transport of intermediary metabolites across biological membranes represents an integral part of Cr metabolism in vertebrates. Arg has to be taken up into mitochondria for guanidinoacetate biosynthesis. Guanidinoacetate is released from pancreas and kidney cells and taken up by the liver. Likewise, Cr is exported from the liver and accumulated in CK-containing tissues. Finally, inside the cells, ATP, ADP, Cr, and PCr have to diffuse or to be transported through intracellular membranes to be able to contribute to high-energy phosphate transport between mitochondria and sites of ATP utilization. Evidently, all these sites of membrane transport are potential targets for the regulation of Cr metabolism.
In chicken kidney and liver, where AGAT is localized in the mitochondrial matrix, penetration of L-Arg through the inner membrane was found to occur only in respiring mitochondria and in the presence of anions such as acetate or phosphate (301). Consequently, the rate of Arg transport across the mitochondrial membranes might influence Cr biosynthesis.
Cr uptake into CK-containing tissues, e.g., skeletal muscle, heart, brain, or kidney, is effected by a specific, saturable, Na+- and Cl--dependent Cr transporter (see sect. VIIC). Even though the evidence is not as strong as in the case of AGAT, the expression and/or specific activity of the Cr transporter seems to be influenced by dietary and hormonal factors. A 24-h fast slightly increases [Cr] in the plasma but decreases Cr uptake into tibialis anterior and cardiac muscle of the mouse by ~50% (480). In rats, Cr supplementation of the diet decreases Cr transporter expression (317). Similarly, in rat and human myoblasts and myotubes in cell culture, extracellular Cr downregulates Cr transport in a concentration- and time-dependent manner (571). Na+-dependent Cr uptake is decreased by extracellular [Cr] >1 µM, with 50% inhibition being observed at 20-30 µM, i.e., in the range of the physiological plasma concentration of Cr. In media containing 5 mM Cr, transport of Cr is decreased by 50% within 3-6 h, and maximal inhibition (70-80%) is observed within 24 h. Upregulation of Cr transport upon withdrawal of extracellular Cr seems to occur more slowly. Excessive concentrations (5 mM) of guanidinoacetate and GPA also reduce Cr transport significantly, whereas D- and L-ornithine, Crn, Gly, and PCr are ineffective. Because the downregulation of the Cr transporter activity by extracellular Cr is slowed by cycloheximide, an inhibitor of protein synthesis, it has been hypothesized that Cr transport, like Na+-dependent system A amino acid transport (331), is controlled by regulatory proteins. However, no conclusive evidence for or against this hypothesis is currently available. It also remains to be clarified how extracellular [Cr] is transformed into an intracellular signal. Loike et al. (571) have presented weak evidence suggesting that Cr has to be taken up into the cells to exert its effect on Cr transporter activity. On the other hand, dietary Cr supplementation in humans and animals, despite an at least 3- to 20-fold increase in the serum concentration of Cr, results in only a 10-20% increase in the muscle levels of Cr (see sect. XI). Because, in addition, this latter increase in muscle [Cr] is much lower than the ones observed during physical exercise, it is difficult to envisage that intracellular [Cr] should be a key regulator of Cr uptake.
In a thorough investigation of the Cr transporter activity in cultured mouse G8 myoblasts, Odoom et al. (711) showed that Cr uptake is stimulated by isoproterenol, norepinephrine, the cAMP analog N6,2'-O-dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate, and the beta 2-agonist clenbuterol, but not by the alpha 1-adrenergic receptor agonist methoxamine. Likewise, the stimulatory action of norepinephrine is not affected by alpha -adrenergic receptor antagonists but is inhibited by beta -antagonists, with the beta 2-antagonist butoxamine being more effective than the beta 1-antagonist atenolol. Thus the Cr transporter activity may be controlled predominantly by beta 2-adrenergic receptors that have cAMP as their intracellular signal. In fact, analysis of the Cr transporter cDNA sequence revealed consensus phosphorylation sites for cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) and for protein kinase C (PKC) (691, 927). However, in transiently transfected cells expressing the human Cr transporter, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, an activator of PKC, displayed a small inhibitory effect on Cr uptake, whereas forskolin (an activator of adenylyl cyclase), okadaic acid (a phosphatase inhibitor), A23187 (a calcium ionophore), and insulin were ineffective. The last finding, in turn, contrasts with experiments on rat skeletal muscle where insulin significantly increased Cr uptake, whereas alloxan-induced diabetes had no effect on Cr accumulation (see Ref. 349). Insulin and insulin-like growth factor I also stimulated Cr uptake in mouse G8 myoblasts (711), and insulin at physiologically high or supraphysiological concentrations enhanced muscle Cr accumulation in humans (943). Insulin increases Na+-K+-ATPase activity which, indirectly, may stimulate Cr transporter activity (see Ref. 943). In this context, it seems noteworthy that guanidinoacetate, and to a lower extent Arg and Cr, were seen to stimulate insulin secretion in the isolated perfused rat pancreas (15). Despite using G8 myoblasts and myotubes as Odoom et al. (711; see above), and despite other indications that clenbuterol may exert some of its anabolic effects on muscle by stimulating Cr uptake, Thorpe et al. (1003) failed to detect an effect of clenbuterol on Cr transport.
The contents of Cr, PCr, and total Cr are decreased in hyperthyroid rat cardiac muscle by 13, 62, and 42%, respectively, with these changes being paralleled by an increased sensitivity of the heart to ischemic damage (874). Although this finding might be explained by a direct action of thyroid hormones on the Cr transporter, experiments with colloidal lanthanum suggest that it is due instead to an increased (reversible) leakiness of the sarcolemma. Kurahashi and Kuroshima (519) suggested that the 3,3',5-triiodothyronine-induced creatinuria and decrease in muscle Cr contents is due both to decreased uptake and increased release of Cr by the muscles. On the other hand, Cr uptake into mouse G8 myoblasts was shown to be stimulated by 3,3',5-triiodothyronine and by amylin which, in muscle, is known to bind to the calcitonin gene-related peptide receptor (711).
As to be expected from the Na+ dependence of the Cr transporter (see sect. VIIC), Cr uptake is diminished in deenergized cells and is also depressed by the Na+-K+-ATPase inhibitors ouabain and digoxin (58, 293, 515, 570, 711). When, however, L6 rat myoblasts are preincubated with ouabain or digoxin, and Cr uptake subsequently is analyzed in the absence of these inhibitors, it is even higher than in untreated control cells (58). Finally, in erythrocytes from uremic patients, the Na+-dependent component of Cr influx is 3.3 times higher than in normal human erythrocytes. This finding may be due, by analogy, to the known occurrence of inhibitors of Na+-K+-ATPase in uremic plasma (950, 984). Obviously, cells may respond to decreased Na+-K+-ATPase activity, which in turn likely decreases Cr transporter activity, by compensatory upregulation of Na+-K+-ATPase (382) and/or Cr transporter expression.
After incubation of L6 rat myoblasts for 20 h under control conditions, replacement of the conditioned medium by fresh control medium decreases Cr uptake by 32-45% (58). This may indicate that conditioned medium from L6 myoblasts contains a modulator of Cr transport.
Despite all these investigations on the regulation of Cr uptake, it cannot be decided yet whether regulation of Cr uptake is effected directly by modulating the expression and/or activity of the Cr transporter or indirectly via alterations of the transmembrane electrochemical gradient of Na+ which depends primarily on the Na+-K+-ATPase activity. Accordingly, it is still unclear whether Cr uptake via the Cr transporter is under kinetic or thermodynamic control. The findings that Cr uptake is inhibited by ouabain and digoxin and that 3,3',5-triiodothyronine, isoproterenol, and amylin not only stimulate Cr uptake but also increase the Na+-K+-ATPase activity and, thus, the membrane potential would favor indirect regulation of the Cr transporter by the electrochemical gradient of Na+. However, with the assumption of a Na+ to Cr stoichiometry of the Cr transporter of 1 or 2, the theoretical concentration ratio of intracellular versus extracellular Cr should be between 900 and 3,000 (286, 711). If the chloride dependence of the Cr transporter were also taken into account, this theoretical ratio would be even higher. In sharp contrast to these values, the actual concentration ratio in resting muscle is around 80. Because, in addition, dietary Cr supplementation over several days or weeks considerably increases [Cr] in human and animal serum, but only slightly enhances the Cr levels in muscle (see sect. XI), and because in rats fed GPA and cyclocreatine, these Cr analogs compete efficiently with Cr uptake into muscle and thereby largely deplete the intracellular pools of Cr and PCr, the hypothesis that the Cr transporter is kinetically controlled seems at present more plausible. Clearly, the question of how Cr uptake is regulated in detail is of importance for a deeper understanding of Cr metabolism in health and disease. In particular, it will be crucial to determine the exact Na+ and Cl- stoichiometries of the Cr transporter.
Because part of the Cr that is accumulated in CK-containing tissues is converted to PCr, it might be anticipated that Cr uptake and phosphate uptake influence each other. In fact, in mouse myoblasts that are exposed to extracellular Cr, Pi uptake is transiently stimulated (773). This finding is probably not due to concerted regulation of the Cr and Pi transporters but may rely on a local decrease in Pi concentration due to phosphorylation of intracellularly accumulated Cr. In Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts, the intracellular concentrations of Cr and of Cr plus PCr remain significantly higher when the perfusion medium is devoid of phosphate than when it contains 1 mM Pi (286). This effect was attributed to decreased Cr efflux during phosphate-free perfusion.
Only few and inconclusive data are available on Cr efflux from cells. Although in L6 rat myoblasts at 37°C, Cr efflux amounted to 2.8-3.6% of intracellular Cr per hour (571), the respective value for G8 mouse myoblasts at 37°C was 5%/day (711). The latter value is comparable to the fractional conversion rate of Cr to Crn and may indicate that the plasma membrane is largely impermeable for Cr once it is intracellularly trapped. Because the liver is the main site of Cr biosynthesis in the body, the plasma membrane of hepatocytes is expected to be more permeable for Cr than that of muscle cells. This finding agrees with the fact that upon administration of Cr, liver, kidney, and viscera constitute a rapidly expansible pool for Cr, whereas muscle and nervous tissues constitute a slowly expansible pool of Cr plus PCr (480; see also Ref. 1077). On the other hand, when transgenic mice expressing CK in liver were fed 10% Cr in the diet for 5 days, Cr efflux from the liver proved to be insignificant (606). Because high dietary intake of Cr makes de novo biosynthesis of Cr superfluous, a putative transport protein responsible for Cr export from the liver may simply have been downregulated in this experimental set-up. In any case, this finding should not be taken as evidence against a significant contribution of the liver to de novo biosynthesis of Cr in vertebrates. Finally, cultured Sertoli cells from the seminiferous epithelium of rats were shown to secrete Cr into the medium (665). Cr secretion was stimulated by physiological and toxicological modulators of Sertoli cell function like follicle-stimulating hormone, dibutyryl cAMP, mono-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, or cadmium.
The permeability itself as well as changes in permeability of the outer mitochondrial membrane may be critical for the stimulation of mitochondrial respiration and high-energy phosphate synthesis, as well as for the transport of these high-energy phosphates between sites of ATP production and ATP utilization within the cell (for reviews, see Refs. 94, 280, 838, 1124). Changes in permeability of the outer mitochondrial membrane pore protein (voltage-dependent anion-selective channel; VDAC) may be accomplished 1) by "capacitive coupling" to the membrane potential of the inner membrane, leading to a voltage-dependent "closure" of the pore, or 2) by a VDAC modulator protein which increases the rate of voltage-dependent channel closure by ~10-fold. To what extent these mechanisms operate in vivo and retard the diffusion of ADP, ATP, Pi, Cr, and PCr remains to be established.
To conclude, the most critical determinant for the regulation of Cr metabolism seems to be the serum concentration of Cr. An elevation of serum [Cr] over an extended period of time would point to excess de novo biosynthesis or dietary intake of Cr and, in addition, would indicate that the tissue pools of Cr and PCr are replenished. The observed or suspected effects of an elevated serum [Cr], namely, to downregulate the expression and/or activity of AGAT and possibly also the Cr transporter, would therefore help to spare precursors of Cr (Arg, Gly, Met) and to maintain normal, steady levels of Cr and PCr in CK-containing tissues. As a consequence, the rate of Cr biosynthesis is highest in young, healthy, fast-growing vertebrates under anabolic conditions on a balanced, Cr-free diet (1077).
