The configuration of the alloisoleucine present in maple syrup urine disease plasma

Initial catabolic steps of isoleucine, the R-pathway and the origin of alloisoleucine

The initial catabolic steps of isoleucine by mammals has been misunderstood and misapprehended in the scientific literature for many years. The suggestion that the interconversion of isoleucine and alloisoleucine occurs through the keto-enol racemization of their respective transaminated alpha-keto acids was first tentatively advanced by Alton Meister in the early 1950s, and accepted without hard confirming evidence by many authors. It will be shown in this brief review that isoleucine is converted to alloisoleucine with conservation of a 15N label denying the intermediacy of the alpha-keto acids, and that alloisoleucine arises as an unavoidable consequence of isoleucine transamination.

Formation of L-alloisoleucine in vivo: an L-[13C]isoleucine study in man

L-alloisoleucine (2S, 3R), a diastereomer of L-isoleucine (2S, 3S), is a normal constituent of human plasma. Considerable amounts accumulate in maple syrup urine disease, in which the branched-chain 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase step is impaired. The mechanism of L-alloisoleucine formation, however, is unclear. We addressed this issue by performing oral L-[1-13C]isoleucine loading (38 micromol/kg body wt, 50% 1-13C) in overnight-fasted healthy subjects (n = 4) and measuring the 3-h kinetics of 13C-label incorporation into L-isoleucine plasma metabolites. Compared with L-isoleucine, the time course of 13C-enrichment in the related 2-oxo acid, S-3-methyl-2-oxopentanoate, was only slightly delayed. Peak values, amounting to 18+/-4 and 17+/-3 mol percent excess, respectively, were reached within 35 and 45 min, respectively. The kinetics of 13C-enrichment in S- and R-3-methyl-2-oxopentanoate enantiomorphs were similar and linearly correlated (p << 0.001). In L-alloisoleucine, however, 13C-label accumulated only gradually and in minor amounts. Our results indicate that R-3-methyl-2-oxopentanoate is an immediate and inevitable byproduct of L-isoleucine transamination and further suggest that alloisoleucine is primarily formed via retransamination of 3-methyl-2-oxopenanoate in vivo.

A new semisynthetic ergot peptide alkaloid: DCN 203-922

We report the synthesis, stereochemistry and preliminary pharmacological evaluation of DCN 203-922, a novel ergot alkaloid of the cyclol type, which contains in its peptide moiety the uncommon amino acid L-allo-isoleucine.

Correlations between branched-chain amino acids and branched-chain alpha-keto acids in blood in maple syrup urine disease

In 62 blood samples from 3 patients with classical maple syrup urine disease and from one patient with a variant form, a close linear correlation was found between levels of branched chain amino acids and their corresponding alpha-keto acids. Keto acids were determined as O-trimethylsilyl quinoxalinols by gas chromatography with a nitrogen-selective detector.

Demonstration of a new mammalian isoleucine catabolic pathway yielding an Rseries of metabolites

1. Normal human urine contains small amounts (less than 4 mg/g of creatinine) of 2-ethylhydracrylic acid, formed, we believe, by a previously undisclosed endogenous catabolic pathway for the oxidation of a newly described series of R metabolites of isoleucine. 2. Urinary excretion of 2-ethylhydracrylic acid is variably increased in defects of isoleucine oxidation at distal steps in the catabolic pathway (3-oxoacyl-CoA thiolase deficiency and methylmalonyl-CoA mutase deficiency) and is diminished when proximal steps of the oxidative pathway are blocked as in branched-chain oxo acid decarboxylase deficiency ('maple-syrup-urine' disease). 3. Precursors of R-pathway metabolites [R(-)-2-methylbutyrate and 2-ethylacrylate ] lead to increased 2-ethylhydracrylate excretion in the mammal(rat, rabbit and dog); the corresponding S metabolites [S(+)-2-methylbutyric acid and tiglic acid ], when given in equimolar amounts, have little effect on its excretion, suggesting that little or no interconversion between S and R metabolites occurs in vivo. 4. Studies with 2H-labelled precursors indicate that conversion of R 2-methylbutyrate into 2-ethylhydracrylic acid occurs by a direct pathway (apparently via 2-ethylacrylic acid). 5. The further oxidation of 2-ethylhydracrylic acid to ethylmalonic acid was demonstrated, and may be analogous to S-metabolite oxidation via methyl malonate. 6. Valine metabolites do not interact with the R=isoleucine pathway under the conditions of these experiments in vivo.

Gas chromatography of amino acids

This review summarizes all papers that have appeared on the gas chromatography of amino acids (including the iodoamino acids) and their enantiomers in the period 1956-mid-1974. It has been found that the methods used for analysis of amino acids can be divided into three classes: (1) degradative procedures and techniques for converting the amino acid into another chemical compound; (2) procedures based on esterification of the carboxyl group and derivatization of the a-amino and other reactive groups in at least two steps; and (3) procedures based on a simultaneous derivatization of the carboxyl and a-amino groups in one reaction medium. For the treatment of the amino acid or its alkyl ester, three approaches can be distinguished for the two latter cases, i.e., acylation, alkylation (including silylation) and condensation. Of the procedures used for the resolution of optical antipodes, two methods are discussed, namely analysis of diastereoisomers on optically inactive stationary phases and separation of enantiomers on optically active stationary phases.