Glycine, a Dispensable Amino Acid, Is Conditionally Indispensable in Late Stages of Human Pregnancy

BACKGROUND

Recently, we showed that there are higher protein, lysine, and phenylalanine requirements in late stages of pregnancy compared with early stages. Animal studies have suggested an increased dietary need for specific dispensable amino acids in pregnancy; whether such a need exists in human pregnancies is unknown.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the current study was to examine whether healthy pregnant women at midgestation (20-29 wk) and late gestation (30-40 wk) have a dietary demand for glycine, a dispensable amino acid, using the indicator amino acid oxidation method and measurement of plasma 5-oxoproline concentrations.

METHODS

Seventeen healthy women (aged 26-36 y) randomly received different test glycine intakes (range: 5-100 mg·kg-1·d-1) during each study day in midgestation (∼26 wk, n = 17 observations in 9 women) and late gestation (∼35 wk, n = 19 observations in 8 women). Diets were isocaloric with energy at 1.7 × resting energy expenditure. Protein was given as a crystalline amino acid mixture based on egg protein composition at current estimated average requirement (EAR; 0.88 g·kg-1·d-1). Breath samples were collected at baseline and isotopic steady state to measure oxidation of L-[1-13C]phenylalanine to 13CO2 (F13CO2). Plasma was collected at the sixth hour of the study day. Linear regression crossover analysis and simple linear regression were used to assess responses in F13CO2 and plasma 5-oxoproline concentrations to different glycine intakes.

RESULTS

No statistically significant responses were observed in midgestation. However, in late gestation, lower glycine intakes resulted in higher rates of F13CO2 (suggesting low protein synthesis) with a breakpoint for phenylalanine oxidation at >37 mg glycine·kg-1·d-1 and higher plasma 5-oxoproline (suggesting low glycine availability) with a breakpoint >27 mg glycine·kg-1·d-1.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that glycine should be considered a "conditionally" indispensable amino acid during late gestation, especially when protein intakes are at 0.88 g·kg-1·d-1, the current EAR. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02149953.

Dietary phenylalanine requirements during early and late gestation in healthy pregnant women

BACKGROUND

Phenylalanine is an indispensable amino acid and, via tyrosine, is the precursor for the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Currently, dietary requirements for phenylalanine during pregnancy are unknown.

OBJECTIVES

This study's aim was to determine phenylalanine requirements (in the presence of excess tyrosine) during early and late gestation using direct amino acid oxidation (DAAO; with l-[1-13C]phenylalanine) and indicator amino acid oxidation (IAAO; with l-[1-13C]leucine).

METHODS

Twenty-three healthy women (age: 30.4 ± 3.1 y, mean ± SD) were studied at a range of phenylalanine intakes (5.5-30.5 mg · kg-1 · d-1 in early and late pregnancy using DAAO, and 2.5-30.5 mg · kg-1 · d-1 in late pregnancy using IAAO) for a total of 76 study days. Test intakes were provided as 8 isocaloric and isonitrogenous meals with 1.5 g · kg-1 · d-1 protein and energy at 1.7 times the measured resting energy expenditure. Breath samples were analyzed on an isotope ratio mass spectrometer for 13C enrichment. Phenylalanine requirement was determined using a 2-phase linear regression crossover model to identify a breakpoint in 13CO2 production (representing the mean requirement) in response to phenylalanine intakes.

RESULTS

Phenylalanine requirement during early pregnancy was determined to be 15 mg · kg-1 · d-1 (95% CI: 10.4, 19.9 mg · kg-1 · d-1); during late pregnancy, it was determined to be 21 mg · kg-1 · d-1 by DAAO (95% CI: 17.4, 24.7 mg · kg-1 · d-1) and IAAO (95% CI: 10.5, 32.2 mg · kg-1 · d-1).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest a higher requirement (40%) for phenylalanine during late pregnancy than during early pregnancy. Moreover, the early pregnancy requirements are higher than the previous adult male requirement (9.1 mg · kg-1 · d-1; 95% CI: 4.6, 13.6 mg · kg-1 · d-1), although the 95% CIs overlap. Both DAAO and IAAO methods provided similar breakpoints in late pregnancy, showing that the DAAO method was appropriate even though low phenylalanine intakes could not be tested. These results have potential implications for gestation stage-specific dietary phenylalanine recommendations in future.This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02669381.

Effects of trans- and n-3 unsaturated fatty acids on cardiovascular risk markers in healthy males. An 8 weeks dietary intervention study

BACKGROUND

Studies of long-term intake of industrially produced trans fatty acids (TFA) and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) suggest opposite effects on cardiovascular disease risk. Common mechanisms of action are probable.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the effects on cardiovascular risk markers of dietary enrichment with TFA or n-3 PUFA.

DESIGN

Randomized, double-blind, parallel intervention trial.

SETTING

Department of Human Nutrition, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University.

SUBJECTS

In all, 87 healthy males included, 79 completed.

INTERVENTION

Subjects were randomly assigned to 8 weeks of a daily intake of 33 g of experimental fats from either partially hydrogenated soy oil containing 20 g of TFA, 12 g of fish oil with approximately 4 g of n-3 PUFA and 21 g of control fat, or 33 g of control fat. The experimental fats were incorporated into bakery products. Plasma lipids, blood pressure, heart rate variability (HRV), arterial dilatory capacity, compliance, and distensibility were recorded before and after intervention and at follow-up 12 weeks after the intervention.

RESULTS

High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) decreased in the TFA group and triglycerides and mean arterial blood pressure decreased in the n-3 PUFA group compared to the control group. HRV, arterial dilatory capacity, compliance, and distensibility were unchanged.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that the association between coronary heart disease risk and intake of TFA and n-3 PUFA relates only modestly to changes in traditional risk markers.

SPONSORSHIP

Danish Medical Research Council (Grant no. 22-01-0390), Center of Advanced Food Research (Copenhagen, Denmark) (Grant no. KVL-R-2001-107), the Danish Heart Association (Grant no. 99-2-3-45-22748), Novozymes (Bagsvaerd, Denmark), Aarhus Olie (Aarhus, Denmark), and from private sources. The experimental fats were provided by Pronova Biocare (Aalesund, Norway) and Aarhus Olie (Aarhus, Denmark).

Combined effects of complex mixtures of potentially anti-carcinogenic compounds on antioxidant enzymes and carcinogen metabolizing enzymes in the rat

The anti-carcinogenic activity of dietary fruit and vegetables observed in several epidemiological and experimental animal studies is likely to be an effect of the combined exposure to a large number of substances acting together. This is plausible, as these compounds are present simultaneously in a diet containing vegetables and fruit. Further, some compounds have been experimentally demonstrated to modify several mechanisms involved in carcinogenesis. The effect of combined exposure is demonstrated in the present article, summarizing the effects of a complex mixture of anti-carcinogenic substances (from broccoli) on different antioxidative defense enzymes and on cytochrome P-450 activities in rat liver, kidney and colon. The responses were related to the levels of different specific glucosinolates.

Nature of the inactivation of elastase by N-peptidyl-O-aroyl hydroxylamine as a function of pH

The mechanism of inactivation of porcine pancreatic elastase (PPE) by N-peptidyl-O-aroylhydroxylamine was studied by X-ray crystallography. The inactivator forms a stable complex with the enzyme by means of a covalent attachment to the active site Ser 203(195) O gamma. The nature of the complex is, however, different depending on the pH at which the inactivation reaction occurs. At pH 5, the complex formed is a hydroxylamine derivative of Ser 203(195) in which the O gamma of serine is the oxygen of the hydroxylamine derivative. At pH 7.5, the complex formed is a carbamate derivative at Ser 203(195) O gamma. In both types of complexes, the inactivator binds in the S' subsites of the enzyme instead of forming the usual antiparallel beta-sheet with the S subsites. The implication for the mechanism of inactivation at different pHs is discussed.

Direct structural observation of an acyl-enzyme intermediate in the hydrolysis of an ester substrate by elastase

The method of X-ray crystallographic cryoenzymology has been used to determine the crystal structure of a kinetically significant species on the reaction pathway of a crystalline enzyme. The structure of a specific acyl-enzyme intermediate in the elastase-catalyzed hydrolysis of the N-carbobenzoxy-L-alanine p-nitrophenyl ester has been determined and refined against X-ray diffraction data at 2.3-A resolution. The difference Fourier electron density map clearly shows electron density for the trapped acyl-enzyme. The acyl-enzyme was formed at -26 degrees C and was stabilized at -55 degrees C during data collection, taking advantage of the glass transition in protein dynamics that occurs at around -50 degrees C.

Structure of the Mg(2+)-bound form of CheY and mechanism of phosphoryl transfer in bacterial chemotaxis

The response regulator protein of bacterial chemotaxis, CheY, is representative of a large family of signal transduction proteins that function as phosphorylation-activated switches to regulate the activities of associated effector domains. These regulators catalyze the metal ion-dependent phosphoryl transfer and dephosphorylation reactions that control the effector activities. The crystal structures of Salmonella typhimurium CheY with and without Mg2+ bound at the active site have been determined and refined at 1.8-A resolution. While the overall structures of metal-bound and metal-free CheY are similar, significant rearrangements occur within the active site involving the three most highly conserved residues of the response regulator family. Conservation of the cluster of carboxylate side chains at the active site of response regulator domains can be rationalized in terms of their role in coordinating the catalytically essential divalent metal ion. The Mg2+ coordination geometry provides insights to the mechanism of phosphoryl transfer.

Crystalline ribonuclease A loses function below the dynamical transition at 220 K

When the dynamic properties of many different proteins are plotted as a function of temperature, biphasic behaviour is observed, with a broad transition centred around 220 K. Atomic mean-square displacements from X-ray crystallography and Mössbauer scattering show this behaviour, as do electron transfer rates and dynamic information from inelastic neutron scattering. Molecular dynamics simulations over a range of temperatures also exhibit a transition at about 220 K: high-temperature atomic fluctuations are dominated by anharmonic collective motions of bonded and nonbonded groups of atoms, but below 220 K the predominant dynamic behaviour is harmonic vibration of individual atoms. Here we show by high-resolution X-ray diffraction that crystalline ribonuclease A does not bind substrate or inhibitor at 212 K but will bind either rapidly at 228 K. Once bound at the higher temperature, inhibitor cannot be washed off after the enzyme is cooled to below the transition temperature. These results suggest that enzyme flexibility is required for catalytic function.

[Acute myocardial infarction as the primary symptom in essential thrombocytosis in a 17-year-old male]

A case of acute myocardial infarction and signs of ischemic heart disease as the only manifestation of the myeloproliferative disorder essential thrombocytosis in a 17 year old male is presented.