Regeneration of renal proximal tubules after mercuric chloride injury is accompanied by increased binding of aminoacyl-transfer ribonucleic acid.

Homogenates of rat kidney cortex obtained 1,3 or 14 days after a single injection of HgCl2 were used to prepare the post-microsomal pH5 supernatant fraction. The activity of this fraction for peptide synthesis from [14C]phenylalanyl-tRNA was significantly increased at 1 and 3 days, at which time the proximal tubules are regenerating [Cuppage & Tate (1967) Am. J. Pathol. 51, 405-429]. This increased activity could not be attributed to a decreased inhibitory activity, but was due to an increased aminoacyl-tRNA binding, i.e. elongation-factor-1 activity, in the supernatant fraction.