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Hyperammonemia in hypoglycemic preterm neonates.

Plasma glucose, blood urea nitrogen, and ammonia were measured simultaneously in 44 newborns a few hours after birth. When the concentration of plasma glucose was below 30 mg/dl, plasma ammonia concentration was significantly higher (129 +/- 67 mumol/l) than in normoglycemic infants (74 +/- 33 mumol/l; p less than 0.01). Blood urea nitrogen was slightly lower in hypoglycemic infants (3.65 +/- 0.7 mmol/l) than in the control group (4.5 +/- 1 mmol/l) but the difference was not significant. These data show that hyperammonemia can be associated to hypoglycemia in low birth weight infants. Therefore, further investigations are required to determine the link between urea and glucose production rates in hypoglycemic newborns and whether hyperammonemia participates in the deleterious effects of hypoglycemia on the neonatal brain.

Alanine↗

Urea cycle disorders, hyperammonemia and neurotransmitter changes.

In congenital urea cycle disorders, detoxification of ammonia is impaired, leading to hyperammonemia. Ammonia is the major component causing the acute neurological disturbances. It may influence the supply of substrate and its transport at the blood-brain barrier (BBB) which results in alterations in the synthesis and catabolism of neurotransmitters in the brain. In hyperammonemic rats, the uptake of tryptophan into the brain is increased with an augmented flux through the serotonin pathway. In the forebrain, glutamine as well as amino acids transported with the same L-carrier system, such as phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan, are elevated. It is postulated that the increased transport of tryptophan at the BBB occurs in exchange with glutamine. Methionine sulfoximine (MSO) inhibits glutamine synthetase in the cerebral cortex. The activity drops from 5.85 +/- 0.38 to 1.07 +/- 0.37 mumol/min/g wet weight. Under MSO, the brain tryptophan uptake also decreased to 64.2 +/- 4.5% in hyperammonemic rats, to 54.1 +/- 8.0% in untreated hyperammonemic rats, whereas without MSO an increase of tryptophan uptake was observed. An effect of glutamine on tryptophan transport could also be demonstrated using brain microvessel preparations as a model for the BBB. Our findings indicate that preloading isolated microvessels with L-glutamine increases tryptophan uptake into the endothelia when L-glutamine is at concentrations found in brain homogenates under hyperammonemia. Since brain microvessels do not contain glutamine synthetase activity, enzymes from the gamma-glutamyl cycle may be involved in the glutamine-mediated tryptophan transport.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors↗

Hyperammonemia in neonates receiving intravenous nutrition.

Inadequate arginine intake has been suggested as an etiology for hyperammonemia in neonates on parenteral nutrition. We randomized 26 nonasphyxiated neonates to receive amino acid solutions containing either 3.6 or 10.4% of total nitrogen as arginine when intravenous nutrition (IVN) therapy was initiated. Neonates in both amino acid solution study groups were observed to have significantly elevated blood ammonia (BA) concentrations during IVN (p less than 0.01) as compared to pre-IVN levels. Blood ammonia concentrations tended to be higher in infants receiving the 3.6% arginine amino acid solution. Septic infants were at particular risk for hyperammonemia as compared to nonseptic patients (p less than 0.025). Other clinical parameters including birth weight, gestational age, oxygen requirements, enteral nutritional intake, congenital anomalies, and heart disease did not appear to be related to BA concentration.

Amino Acids↗

Hyperornithinemia, hyperammonemia, and homocitrullinuria associated with decreased carbamyl phosphate synthetase I activity.

Six subjects from three sibships with hyperornithinemia, homocitrullinuria, and hyperammonemia are described. Assays of liver biopsy in one showed decreased CPS I and leukocyte assays indicate a similar defect in all six. Loading studies with ornithine and citrulline are consistent with a block early in the urea cycle between ornithine and citrulline. They thus support the results of the enzymatic assays. Similar studies with lysine and homocitrulline indicate there is excessive homocitrulline biosynthesis that is related to lysine intake, but there is no evidence of a block in the main lysine catabolic pathway. The younger more severely affected patients require protein restriction to 1.2 and 1.5 g/kg/24 hr to control hyperammonemia; hyperornithinemia remains unaffected. Adult subjects avoid large protein meals but tolerate a diet that is almost normal. The mode of inheritance of this disorder appears to be autosomal recessive. The fine structure of liver shows the presence of large and abnormally configurated mitochondria. There is a peculiar periodic structure situated closely to the inner mitochondrial membrane, and it is possible that the presence of this may be related to the impairment of transport of ornithine into the mitochondria; this in turn may give rise to hyperornithinemia. This disorder adds to the metabolic errors that suggest that there are close links of lysine metabolism to the urea cycle but the details are yet to be defined.

Adolescent↗

Asymptomatic hyperammonemia in low birthweight infants.

At 0-3 days of age the plasma ammonium concentration in full term appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants was (mean +/- SEM) 27.5 +/- 0.5 micron; a value similar to that reported in adults. Ammonium levels in low birthweight AGA and SGA groups were 47.0 +/- 2.0 micron and 45.1 +/- 3.3 micron respectively; significantly elevated (P less than 0.001) as compared to the full term group. These increased ammonium levels persisted at 3-5 weeks of age. Associated with the hyperammonemia was a significant (P less than 0.01) decrease in plasma alpha-ketoglutarate concentration: 11.8 +/- 1.0 micron, in the low birthweight AGA as compared to 20.7 +/- 0.6 micron in the full term AGA infants. There was an inverse linear correlation between plasma concentrations of ammonium and alpha-ketoglutarate r = -0.86, P less than 0.001. Urinary orotate excretion was significantly elevated (P less than 0.05) in low birthweight AGA infants. There was no difference in the plasma concentrations of glutamine, glutamate, or alanine among the various groups. Hyperammonemia was not associated with neurologic dysfunction.

Ammonia↗

Behavioral and neurotransmitter changes in the urease-infused rat: a model of congenital hyperammonemia.

Rats implanted with subcutaneous or intraperitoneal osmotic minipumps infusing 0.8-1.25 IU urease/kg/h develop sustained hyperammonemia (range 137-497 microM, controls 88 +/- 51 microM +/- SD) for 5-7 days. Glutamine levels are also significantly elevated in plasma (677 +/- 166 versus 428 +/- 122 microM) and cerebral cortex (13.2 +/- 9.8 versus 4.7 +/- 2.8 nmol/mg tissue). Neurobehavioral abnormalities include decreased food intake and increased stereotypic activity. Increased serotonin turnover was suggested by elevated levels of tryptophan and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in cerebral cortex, brain stem, and cerebellum of urease-infused compared to sham-operated animals. There were no changes in norepinephrine or gamma aminobutyric acid, and there was no correlation between the degree of hyperammonemia or glutaminemia and brain levels of tryptophan or biogenic amines. Animals receiving a tryptophan-deficient diet had significantly lower levels of tryptophan and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in brain regions compared to animals receiving a normal tryptophan intake, under both control and hyperammonemic conditions. Despite the prevention of increased serotonin flux in hyperammonemic animals receiving a tryptophan-deficient diet, food intake and weight declined and there was increased stereotypic behavior.

Ammonia↗

Hyperornithinemia-hyperammonemia-homocitrullinuria syndrome: low creatine excretion and effect of citrulline, arginine, or ornithine supplement.

Two patients with neonatal onset of hyperornithinemia-hyperammonemia-homocitrullinuria syndrome were studied at 4 and 2 1/2 yr of age, respectively. The aim of the investigation was to assess the effect of supplementing citrulline, arginine, or ornithine (2 mmol/kg per day) while on a protein-restricted diet. The peroral supplementation was carried out during 2 wk for each amino acid. While ammonia in plasma was not increased the supply of citrulline or arginine led to a reduction of plasma glutamine compared to ornithine supplement or to no supplement (control period). Plasmatic ornithine was raised in all instances. Homocitrulline excretion was lower with all additions compared to the control period. Adding citrulline to the diet (in contrast to supplementing arginine) did not lower tubular lysine reabsorption. A lowered creatine excretion was found which could be normalized by arginine or citrulline. The data are compatible with a product inhibition of arginino-glycine transamidinase suggesting that the enzyme is not located in the mitochondrial matrix in man. Citrulline supplement combined with a protein-restricted diet appears to allow a normal development. The additional finding of a factor VII and X deficiency in one of the patient and reports in the literature of this association in two other patients with hyperornithinemia-hyperammonemia-homocitrullinuria syndrome suggest that the genetic defect leading to the syndrome might be located on chromosome 13.

Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors↗

Tyrosine uptake and regional brain monoamine metabolites in a rat model resembling congenital hyperammonemia.

Hyperammonemia found in congenital disorders has a toxic effect on the central nervous system. Disturbances of brain neurotransmitter metabolism have been proposed, such as an increased transport of tryptophan into the brain and an increased flux through the serotonin pathway. Results concerning the catecholamine pathway are, however, contradictory. We therefore studied whether hyperammonermia increases brain uptake of the neurotransmitter precursor amino acid tyrosine and whether these changes affect the concentration of neurotransmitters and their metabolites in different brain areas (frontal cortex, caudatus-putamen, thalamus, hypothalamus, hippocampus/substantia nigra, brainstem) of rats made hyperammonemic with urease. The brain uptake of tyrosine was measured in the forebrain, brainstem, and cerebellum. The brain areas were analyzed for dopamine, 3,4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid; homovanillic acid, norepinephrine, and vanillylmandelic acid. The brain uptake index of tyrosine was increased in the forebrain and brainstem of the hyperammonemic rats with concomitantly elevated concentrations in the forebrain of tyrosine, phenylalanine, and tryptophan. The homovanillic acid content was significantly increased in the hypothalamus, hippocampus/substantia nigra and brainstem. The concentrations of norepinephrine, dopamine, and 3, 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid were not significantly changed. Vanillylmandellic acid was decreased in the caudatus-putamen, thalamus, and hypothalamus. The data indicate an undisturbed neurotransmitter synthesis and, taken with the augmented tyrosine uptake at the blood-brain barrier, an increased flux through the dopamine pathway. These changes observed in the hyperammonemic animal model could contribute to the understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms and offer an explanation for the neuropsychiatric disturbances observed in children with congenital hyperammonemia.

Amino Acids↗

Sodium valproate-induced hyperammonemia without clinical hepatic dysfunction.

Three adults on unrestricted protein diets receiving valproic aci (VPA) developed gastrointestinal symptoms with encephalopathy and/or deteriorating seizure control associated with arterial hyperammonemia and normal liver function tests. The signs and symptoms did not directly correlate with VPA dosage and the arterial ammonium levels did not correlate with serum VPA concentrations. Two of the three patients had phenobarbital concentrations above the therapeutic range, but remission of neurologic or gastrointestinal symptoms was dependent on a reduction of the VPA concentration. In one case, rechallenge with VPA reproduced hyperammonemia.

Adult↗

Clinical and biochemical studies on periodic hyperammonemia with hyperlysinemia and homocitrullinuria.

An 18-year-old mentally and physically retarded boy, suffering from episodes of anorexia, vomiting, coma and convulsion which have been severer with advance in age, had periodic hyperammonemia, hyperlysinemia and homocitrullinuria. Blood cell arginase activity of the patient on normal diet was markedly reduced after an oral load of L-lysine. The oral loading tests of L-lysine revealed hyperammonemia, hyperlysinemia, hyperargininemia, hypercitrullinemia and homocitrullinuria. Etiology of metabolic error of our patient was discussed in reference to lysine-urea cycle.

Adolescent↗

Human myeloma cell line (KHM-4) established from a patient with multiple myeloma associated with hyperammonemia.

A cell line of plasma cells with high ammonia (NH3) production (KHM-4) was established from a patient with multiple myeloma complicated by hyperammonemia and abnormal serum concentrations of amino acids. Surface marker studies of KHM-4 cells showed that the cells were positive for cytoplasmic immunoglobulins (IgA kappa), HLA-DR, and T 10. Secretion of ammonia by the KHM-4 cells was detected by the addition of L-glutamine and L-arginine into the culture medium of amino acid-free RPMI 1640. In the presence of L-glutamine, KHM-4 cells secreted a greater amount of ammonia than the T cell line, CEM. However, production of ammonia by L-arginine was not observed in other cell lines. These observations provide evidence for the existence of a peculiar amino acid metabolism in the myeloma cells causing hyperammonemia and serum amino acid disturbance.

Ammonia↗

Fatal hyperammonemia in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus.

We treated a 31-year-old woman with systemic lupus erythematosus, renal failure with nephrotic syndrome, and a long-standing seizure disorder, who developed severe hyperammonemia with a fatal outcome. Blood chemistry examination did not indicate liver disease, and amino acid concentrations did not suggest a defect in the urea cycle. Discontinuation of anticonvulsant treatment with valproic acid (VPA) failed to bring about improvement. We speculated that hyperammonemia in this case was induced by VPA, and the existence of other underlying factors, including the administration of aspirin and cimetidine, hypoalbuminemia, and renal failure might elevate the concentration of the serum free fraction of VPA.

Adult↗

Hepatic origin of hyperammonemia induced by shock in normal rats.

This study was undertaken in order to see whether instability in blood ammonia levels frequently observed in the anaesthesized rat could be explained by variations in blood pressure. In normal Wistar rats, anaesthesized with sodium pentobarbital, a bleeding of 1 ml/100 g body weigth produced in a few minutes a significant decrease in blood pressure and a significant increase in arterial blood ammonia level. With the blood pressure normalization following the blood reinfusion this hyperammonemia decreased but reappeared at high levels after a second and a third bleeding. The shock produced by an occlusion of the inferior vena cava above the renal veins gave similar results. The arterial hyperammonemia induced by shock did not result from muscle or renal ammonia production but is related to impaired hepatic uptake of portal ammonia. These results indicate that in the rat the blood pressure stability is a necessary precondition in any experiment on ammonia metabolism.

Ammonia↗

Intracranial pressure, cerebral blood flow, and cerebrospinal fluid formation during hyperammonemia in cat.

Intracranial pressure (ICP), cerebral blood flow (CBF), and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) formation rate were examined in anesthetized cats during ammonia intoxication. Hyperammonemia, evoked by intravenous infusion of ammonium acetate, caused a significant increase in ICP when the arterial blood ammonia level exceeded 400 mumol X liter-1. A progressive elevation of blood ammonia concentration was followed by a gradual rise in CBF, measured by the xenon-133 clearance technique. At an arterial blood ammonia level exceeding 500 mumol X liter-1, the CBF reached a plateau at 30% above the mean control value. Increase in ICP correlated weakly, but significantly, with the increase in CBF (R = 0.489, p less than 0.005). Elevation of the arterial blood ammonia level to 780.4 +/- 25.5 mumol X liter-1 for 2 hours elicited a significant gradual increase in CSF formation rate, measured by the ventriculocisternal perfusion method with iodine-125-albumin as an indicator substance. A maximum increase in CSF flow of 81% was noted at the end of the ammonium acetate infusion. It is suggested that hyperammonemia increases ICP both by cerebral vasodilatation and by enhancement of the CSF formation rate.

Ammonia↗

Establishment of a new human myeloma cell line, KMS-18, having t(4;14)(p16.3;q32.3) derived from a case phenotypically transformed from Ig A-lambda to BJP-lambda, and associated with hyperammonemia.

A new human myeloma cell line, KMS-18, was established from a 58-year-old male with multiple myeloma associated with hyperammonemia. The original leukemic cells and established KMS-18 cells possessed several of the same chromosomal abnormalities, including add(1)(q32), add(10) (q24) and add(17)(p11). In addition, the KMS-18 cells showed novel t(4;14)(p16.3;q32.3) masked translocation which was determined by the FISH method. Moreover, we compared the ammonia production in culture medium of the KMS-18 cell line with that of non-myeloma hematological malignant cell lines and a hepatocellular carcinoma cell line. KMS-18 produced higher levels of ammonia in medium than the other cell lines examined. This new cell line may prove helpful in analyzing the role and biological mechanisms of the t(4;14)(p16.3;q32.3) translocation in myeloma and also in investigating hyperammonemia in cases with myeloma.

Ammonia↗

Three novel mutations (G27E, insAAC, R179X) in the ORNT1 gene of Japanese patients with hyperornithinemia, hyperammonemia, and homocitrullinuria syndrome.

Hyperornithinemia, hyperammonemia and homocitrullinuria (HHH) syndrome presents with various neurological symptoms, including mental retardation, spastic paraparesis with pyramidal signs, cerebellar ataxia, and episodic disturbance of consciousness or coma caused by hyperammonemia. We report three novel mutations in the mitochondrial ornithine transporter gene (ORNT1) of Japanese patients with HHH syndrome: a nonsense mutation (R179X) associated with exon skipping and a frameshift, a missense mutation (G27E), and an insertion of AAC between codons 228 and 229, leading to an insertion of the amino acid Asn. The ORNT1 gene consists of at least six exons, and all exon-intron junction sequences conform to the GT/AG rule. All 3 patients were homozygous for their respective mutations. This study confirms that defects in the ORNT1 gene cause the HHH syndrome and that the genetic basis in Japanese patients is heterogeneous.

Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors↗

Carnitine transport defect presenting with hyperammonemia: report of one case.

Carnitine (beta-hydroxy-gamma-trimethylaminobutyric acid) is involved in the transport of long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondrial matrix and removal of potentially toxic acylcarnitine esters. Carnitine transport defect is a very rare metabolic disease. A 7-month-old female infant was found to have consciousness disturbance, hyperammonemia, hepatomegaly and elevated transaminases. Both the concentrations of free carnitine and acylcarnitines in her blood were very low. The diagnosis of carnitine transport defect was confirmed by assays of carnitine uptake and transport in skin fibroblasts. She responded dramatically to carnitine therapy, and there was no hyperammonemia attack for more than 3 years. Her cardiac function also remained normal.

Ammonia↗