| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
Original Research Communication |
1 From the Departments of Anatomy and Embryology (WJDJ, KLK, JMR, CDGDV, and WHL) and Biochemistry (AJM) and the Facility for Genetically Modified Mice (MAVR), Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam; the Department of Surgery, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands (MMH and NEPD); and the Department of Neurology, Laboratory of Neurochemistry and Behavior, Born-Bunge Foundation, University of Antwerp (UIA), Antwerp, Belgium (BM and PPDD).
Background: Arginine is required for the detoxification of ammonia and the synthesis of proteins, nitric oxide, agmatine, creatine, and polyamines, and it may promote lymphocyte function. In suckling mammals, arginine is synthesized in the enterocytes of the small intestine, but this capacity is lost after weaning.
Objective: We investigated the significance of intestinal arginine production for neonatal development in a murine model of chronic arginine deficiency.
Design: Two lines of transgenic mice that express different levels of arginase I in their enterocytes were analyzed.
Results: Both lines suffer from a selective but quantitatively different reduction in circulating arginine concentration. The degree of arginine deficiency correlated with the degree of retardation of hair and muscle growth and with the development of the lymphoid tissue, in particular Peyer's patches. Expression of arginase in all enterocytes was necessary to elicit this phenotype. Phenotypic abnormalities were reversed by daily injections of arginine but not of creatine. The expression level of the very arginine-rich skin protein trichohyalin was not affected in transgenic mice. Finally, nitric oxide synthase–deficient mice did not show any of the features of arginine deficiency.
Conclusions: Enterocytes are important for maintaining arginine homeostasis in neonatal mice. Graded arginine deficiency causes graded impairment of skin, muscle, and lymphoid development. The effects of arginine deficiency are not mediated by impaired synthesis of creatine or by incomplete charging of arginyl–transfer RNA.
Key Words: Arginine • arginase I • Peyer's patch • myocyte • hair • immunonutrition • enterocytes • transgenic mice
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  P. C. Rodriguez, D. G. Quiceno, J. Zabaleta, B. Ortiz, A. H. Zea, M. B. Piazuelo, A. Delgado, P. Correa, J. Brayer, E. M. Sotomayor, et al. Arginase I Production in the Tumor Microenvironment by Mature Myeloid Cells Inhibits T-Cell Receptor Expression and Antigen-Specific T-Cell Responses Cancer Res., August 15, 2004; 64(16): 5839 - 5849. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. A. Colton, Q. Xu, J. R. Burke, S. Y. Bae, J. K. Wakefield, A. Nair, W. J. Strittmatter, and M. P. Vitek Disrupted Spermine Homeostasis: A Novel Mechanism in Polyglutamine-Mediated Aggregation and Cell Death J. Neurosci., August 11, 2004; 24(32): 7118 - 7127. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 P. C. Rodriguez, A. H. Zea, J. DeSalvo, K. S. Culotta, J. Zabaleta, D. G. Quiceno, J. B. Ochoa, and A. C. Ochoa L-Arginine Consumption by Macrophages Modulates the Expression of CD3{zeta} Chain in T Lymphocytes J. Immunol., August 1, 2003; 171(3): 1232 - 1239. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 V. R. Young Introduction to the 2nd Amino Acid Assessment Workshop J. Nutr., June 1, 2003; 133(6): 2015S - 2020. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
