Expression of key metabolic genes and proteins involved in mRNA translation, energy sensing, and glucose metabolism in liver and skeletal muscle were investigated in a late-gestation fetal sheep model of placental insufficiency intrauterine growth restriction (PI-IUGR). PI-IUGR fetuses weighed 55% less; had reduced oxygen, glucose, isoleucine, insulin, and IGF-I levels; and had 40% reduction in net branched chain amino acid uptake. In PI-IUGR skeletal muscle, levels of insulin receptor were increased 80%, whereas phosphoinositide-3 kinase (p85) and protein kinase B (AKT2) were reduced by 40%. Expression of eukaryotic initiation factor-4e was reduced 45% in liver, suggesting a unique mechanism limiting translation initiation in PI-IUGR liver. There was either no change (AMP activated kinase, mammalian target of rapamycin) or a paradoxical decrease (protein phosphatase 2A, eukaryotic initiation factor-2 alpha) in activation of major energy and cell stress sensors in PI-IUGR liver and skeletal muscle. A 13- to 20-fold increase in phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and glucose 6 phosphatase mRNA expression in the PI-IUGR liver was-associated with a 3-fold increase in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1 alpha mRNA and increased phosphorylation of cAMP response element binding protein. Thus PI-IUGR is-associated with reduced branched chain amino acid uptake and growth factors, yet up-regulation of proximal insulin signaling and a marked increase in the gluconeogenic pathway. Lack of activation of several energy and stress sensors in fetal liver and skeletal muscle, despite hypoxia and low energy status, suggests a novel strategy for survival in the PI-IUGR fetus but with potential maladaptive consequences for reduced nutrient sensing and insulin sensitivity in postnatal life.

The surface complex [([triple bond]SiO)Re([triple bond]CtBu)(=CHtBu)(CH2tBu)] (1) is a highly efficient propene metathesis catalyst with high initial activities and a good productivity. However, it undergoes a fast deactivation process with time on stream, which is first order in active sites and ethene. Noteworthy, 1-butene and pentenes, unexpected products in the metathesis of propene, are formed as primary products, in large amount relative to Re (>>1 equiv/Re), showing that their formation is not associated with the formation of inactive species. DFT calculations on molecular model systems show that byproduct formation and deactivation start by a beta-H transfer trans to the weak sigma-donor ligand (siloxy) at the metallacyclobutane intermediate having a square-based pyramid geometry. This key step has an energy barrier slightly higher than that calculated for olefin metathesis. After beta-H transfer, the most accessible pathway is the insertion of ethene in the Re-H bond. The resulting pentacoordinated trisperhydrocarbyl complex rearranges via either (1) alpha-H abstraction yielding the unexpected 1-butene byproduct and the regeneration of the catalyst or (2) beta-H abstraction leading to degrafting. These deactivation and byproduct formation pathways are in full agreement with the experimental data.