Dog bites man or man bites dog? The enigma of the amino acid conjugations

Beyoğlu, Diren; Smith, Robert L; Idle, Jeffrey R (2012). Dog bites man or man bites dog? The enigma of the amino acid conjugations. Biochemical pharmacology, 83(10), pp. 1331-9. New York, N.Y.: Elsevier 10.1016/j.bcp.2011.12.031

Full text not available from this repository.

The proposition posed is that the value of amino acid conjugation to the organism is not, as in the traditional view, to use amino acids for the detoxication of aromatic acids. Rather, the converse is more likely, to use aromatic acids that originate from the diet and gut microbiota to assist in the regulation of body stores of amino acids, such as glycine, glutamate, and, in certain invertebrates, arginine, that are key neurotransmitters in the central nervous system (CNS). As such, the amino acid conjugations are not so much detoxication reactions, rather they are homeostatic and neuroregulatory processes. Experimental data have been culled in support of this hypothesis from a broad range of scientific and clinical literature. Such data include the low detoxication value of amino acid conjugations and the Janus nature of certain amino acids that are both neurotransmitters and apparent conjugating agents. Amino acid scavenging mechanisms in blood deplete brain amino acids. Amino acids glutamate and glycine when trafficked from brain are metabolized to conjugates of aromatic acids in hepatic mitochondria and then irreversibly excreted into urine. This process is used clinically to deplete excess nitrogen in cases of urea cycle enzymopathies through excretion of glycine or glutamine as their aromatic acid conjugates. Untoward effects of high-dose phenylacetic acid surround CNS toxicity. There appears to be a relationship between extent of glycine scavenging by benzoic acid and psychomotor function. Glycine and glutamine scavenging by conjugation with aromatic acids may have important psychosomatic consequences that link diet to health, wellbeing, and disease.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	04 Faculty of Medicine > Department of Gastro-intestinal, Liver and Lung Disorders (DMLL) > Clinic of Visceral Surgery and Medicine > Hepatology
UniBE Contributor:	Idle, Jeffrey
ISSN:	0006-2952
Publisher:	Elsevier
Language:	English
Submitter:	Factscience Import
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2013 14:38
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 14:11
Publisher DOI:	10.1016/j.bcp.2011.12.031
PubMed ID:	22227274
Web of Science ID:	000302435000002
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/15230 (FactScience: 222522)