QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Rogers, Q. R. Articles by Phang, J. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rogers, Q. R. Articles by Phang, J. M.

Deficiency of Pyrroline-5-Carboxylate Synthase in the Intestinal Mucosa of the Cat

Endocrinology Section, Metabolism Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20205

Pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase activity of the intestinal mucosa of cats was compared to that of rats and found to be only 18% as high per gram of mucosa and only 5% as high per kilogram body weight. This severe limitation in the first step in the de novo synthesis of ornithine may be the metabolic basis for the severe hyperammonemia found in cats fed an arginine-deficient diet. This lack of ornithine synthesis makes the cat completely dependent on dietary arginine for the ornithine required for the removal of ammonia via urea synthesis in the liver.

KEY WORDS: • pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase • cat • ornithine synthesis • arginine deficiency

¹ On sabbatical leave from the Department of Physiological Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA 95616.

Manuscript received 7 August 1984.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. O. Ball, K. L. Urschel, and P. B. Pencharz Nutritional Consequences of Interspecies Differences in Arginine and Lysine Metabolism J. Nutr., June 1, 2007; 137(6): 1626S - 1641S. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. H. Baker Inaugural Article: Comparative nutrition and metabolism: Explication of open questions with emphasis on protein and amino acids PNAS, December 13, 2005; 102(50): 17897 - 17902. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]