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PMID: 1944768 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

N-acetyl-L-glutamate in brain: assay, levels, and regional and subcellular distribution.

Neurochemical research ·Vol. 16 ·No. 7 ·1991-07-00 ·Pages 787-94

Alonso E, García-Pérez MA, Bueso J, Rubio V

Abstract

N-Acetyl-L-glutamate (NAG), the activator of mitochondrial carbamoyl phosphate synthetase (CPS), is demonstrated by several methods, including a new HPLC assay, in the brain of mammals and of chicken. The brain levels of NAG are 200-300 times lower than the levels of N-acetyl-L-aspartate (NAA), and are similar to the levels of NAG in rat liver. The NAG levels in chicken liver are very low. Although NAG is mitochondrial in the liver, it is cytosolic in brain. Using enzyme activity and immuno assays we did not detect CPS in brain (detection limit, 12.5 micrograms/g brain), excluding that brain NAG is involved in citrullinogenesis. The regional distribution of brain NAG differs from that of NAA and resembles that of N-acetyl-L-aspartyl-L-glutamate (NAAG), suggesting that NAG and NAAG are related. NAG might be involved in the modulation of NAAG degradation.

MeSH Terms

Animals Aspartic Acid/analogs & derivatives,analysis Brain Chemistry Chickens Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods Glutamates/analysis Male Mice Rats Rats, Inbred Strains Sheep Species Specificity

Chemicals

Glutamates Aspartic Acid N-acetylaspartate N-acetylglutamic acid

Authors & Affiliations

4 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID

Alonso E

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Valencia, Spain.

García-Pérez M A

Bueso J

Rubio V

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Article Info

Journal

Neurochemical research

Abbr.

Neurochem Res

ISSN

0364-3190

DOI

10.1007/BF00965688

Published

1991-07-00

Pages

787-94

Language

English

Region

United States

NLM ID

7613461

Subset

External Links

PubMed source DOI: 10.1007/BF00965688 View journal details

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N-acetyl-L-glutamate in brain: assay, levels, and regional and subcellular distribution.

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