Effects of excess intake of leucine and valine deficiency on tryptophan and niacin metabolites in humans

States of quinolinic acid excess in urine: A systematic review of human studies

Introduction

Quinolinic acid is an intermediate compound derived from the metabolism of dietary tryptophan. Its accumulation has been reported in patients suffering a broad spectrum of diseases and conditions. In this manuscript, we present the results of a systematic review of research studies assessing urinary quinolinic acid in health and disease.

Methods

We performed a literature review using PubMed, Cochrane, and Scopus databases of all studies reporting data on urinary quinolinic acid in human subjects from December 1949 to January 2022.

Results

Fifty-seven articles met the inclusion criteria. In most of the reported studies, compared to the control group, quinolinic acid was shown to be at increased concentration in urine of patients suffering from different diseases and conditions. This metabolite was also demonstrated to correlate with the severity of certain diseases including juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myopathies, graft vs. host disease, autism spectrum disorder, and prostate cancer. In critically ill patients, elevated quinolinic acid in urine predicted a spectrum of adverse outcomes including hospital mortality.

Conclusion

Quinolinic acid has been implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple conditions. Its urinary accumulation appears to be a feature of acute physiological stress and several chronic diseases. The exact significance of these findings is still under investigation, and further studies are needed to reveal the subsequent implications of this accumulation.

Androgens increase excitatory neurogenic potential in human brain organoids

The biological basis of male-female brain differences has been difficult to elucidate in humans. The most notable morphological difference is size, with male individuals having on average a larger brain than female individuals^1,2, but a mechanistic understanding of how this difference arises remains unknown. Here we use brain organoids³ to show that although sex chromosomal complement has no observable effect on neurogenesis, sex steroids-namely androgens-lead to increased proliferation of cortical progenitors and an increased neurogenic pool. Transcriptomic analysis and functional studies demonstrate downstream effects on histone deacetylase activity and the mTOR pathway. Finally, we show that androgens specifically increase the neurogenic output of excitatory neuronal progenitors, whereas inhibitory neuronal progenitors are not increased. These findings reveal a role for androgens in regulating the number of excitatory neurons and represent a step towards understanding the origin of sex-related brain differences in humans.

Effects of a dietary excess of leucine and of the addition of leucine and 2-oxo-isocaproate on the metabolism of tryptophan and niacin in isolated rat liver cells

1. Feeding rats on a low-tryptophan, niacin-free, high-leucine diet resulted in impaired synthesis from tryptophan of the nicotinamide nucleotide coenzymes, NAD and NADP, and N1-methyl nicotinamide in isolated hepatocytes, compared with cells from animals fed on a low-tryptophan, niacin-free control diet providing an appropriate amount of leucine. This was accompanied by reduced accumulation of the tryptophan metabolites kynurenine, 3-hydroxykynurenine and xanthurenic acid. 2. With hepatocytes from animals fed on the low-tryptophan, niacin-free control diet, the addition of leucine to the incubation medium resulted in reduced synthesis of niacin from tryptophan, and a small increase in the accumulation of 3-hydroxykynurenine. 3. With hepatocytes from animals fed on the low-tryptophan, niacin-free control diet, the addition of 2-oxoisocaproate to the incubation medium resulted in increased synthesis of NAD(P) and niacin, and increased accumulation of 3-hydroxykynurenine. 4. The results suggest that a dietary excess of leucine alters the activity of the enzymes of tryptophan----niacin metabolism, or the uptake of tryptophan into the liver, in a different manner from the simple inhibition and activation seen in experiments in vitro. 5. Differences between studies in isolated hepatocytes and intact animals suggest that extra-hepatic metabolism of tryptophan, catalysed by indoleamine dioxygenase, is more important than has been believed hitherto.

Leucine and tryptophan metabolism in rats

The rate of tryptophan metabolism in isolated liver cells from animals fed on a high-leucine diet was greater than for cells from control animals. Leucine inhibited tryptophan metabolism and tryptophan uptake in isolated liver cells, probably by competing for membrane transport. Leucine had no effect on tryptophan 2,3-dioxygenase in vitro. 4-Methyl-2-oxovalerate increased tryptophan oxidation in incubations containing albumin, by displacing bound tryptophan and increasing the availability of the amino acid to the cell. The results suggest that, under extreme conditions, when the availability of tryptophan is low, leucine may be pellagragenic.

The effects of a dietary excess of leucine on the synthesis of nicotinamide nucleotides in the rat

1. In order to test the suggestion that a dietary excess of leucine may be a precipitating factor in pellagra, rats were fed on diets that provided 15 g leucine/kg in excess of requirements for 7 weeks from weaning. This led to a significant reduction in the concentrations of nicotinamide nucleotides in liver and blood. The effect was only apparent when the diets provided less than a minimally adequate amount of nicotinamide, so that the animals were dependent on the synthesis of nicotinamide nucleotides from tryptophan to meet all or part of their requirements.

2. Urinary excretion of N1-methyl nicotinamide was not a useful indicator of tissue concentrations of nicotinamide nucleotides, and seemed not to be adequately sensitive to differentiate between minimal adequacy and marginal deficiency, as demonstrated by changes in concentrations of nicotinamide nucleotides in liver and blood.

3. The addition of leucine to incubation media for the measurement of enzyme activity in tissue homogenates at concentrations within the physiological range, led to a significant activation of tryptophan oxygenase (L-tryptophan: oxygen oxidoreductase (decyclizing),EC1.13.11.11) and significant inhibition of kynureninase (L-kynurenine hydrolase,EC3.7.1.3). The effect on tryptophan oxygenase may not be physiologically significant, in view of the considerable range of activity of this enzyme under normal conditions. However, the inhibition of kynureninase, which was primarily competitive with respect to the substrate, probably is physiologically significant, and was enough for this enzyme to become a probable rate-limiting step in tryptophan metabolism and nicotinamide nucleotide synthesis. Other enzymes of the tryptophan – nicotinamide nucleotide pathway were not affected by the addition of leucine to the incubation medium.

4. Feeding 15 g leucine/kg diet in excess of minimum requirements had no effect on the activities of tryptophan oxygenase or kynureninase in liver homogenates. This may reflect the reversible competitive nature of the inhibition of kynureninase by leucine, and hence be an artefact of the incubation procedure. Rats fed on the high-leucine diets excreted significantly more kynurenine than did control animals, which is evidence of inhibition of kynureninase in vivo.

5. It appears that a dietary excess of leucine, of the order of 15 g/kg above requirements, may be a precipitating factor in pellagra when there is reliance on the synthesis of nicotinamide nucleotides from tryptophan to meet a part or all of the requirements, but not when minimally adequate niacin is available from the diet.