Nitrogen Metabolism/Urea Cycle Flashcards

1
Q

What are the dietary fuels

A
  1. Carbohydrates - sugars and starches ( store glycogen in skeletal muscle and liver)
  2. Lipids (store as triglycerides in adipose tissue)
  3. Proteins - amino acids
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

We dont store amino acids ; we ____them down

A

break

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

No ____ in carbohydrates of lipids

A

nitrogen

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Have to convert nitrogen to ____

A

urea

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

where does urea cycle occur

A

liver

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

When are aa oxidized for energy?

A
  1. normal protein turnover
  2. starvation/diabetes (uncontrolled)
  3. protein rich diet (Atkins)
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

what is nitrogn balance

A

what you take in vs what you excrete; if intake and excretion are equal it is called N balance; healthy adults

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

What is + nitrogen balance

A

Holding all the nitrogen you take in (intake> loss); growing children, pregnancy, illness/trauma recovery

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

What is - nitrogen balance

A

loss is greater than your intake; excreting a lot of Nitrogen in urine; you get edema

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

What is kwashiorkor

A

The condition of the first born when the second child arrives. the first child who was on breast milk that had all the essential aa’s is put on grain diet thats missing essential aa: muscle waisting metabolism!

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

what maintains fluid in bloodstream vs going into tissues

A

colloid osmotic pressure; proteins of blood maintain colloid osmotic pressure that draws water in but if your lose protein from your blood bc your using it for energy production the main protein you lose is albumin which prov bulk of colloidic osmotic pressureAs osmotic pressure dec fluid leaves blood and goes into tissues. You get edema.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

What is ureotelic

A

excrete urea- terrestrial animals. 86%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

what is ammonotelic

A

excrete ammonia directly - bony fishes. 2.8%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

what is uricotelic

A

excrete uric acid- birds and reptiles. You dont want a bird with a big bladder; birds conserve water in this way. 1.5%

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

what does the other 4% nitrogen come from

A

Creatine. Which comes from muscle

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

What is peristalsis and stomach acid important for

A

open up proteins and dentature them; make them more accesible to proteases and cleave them into ind aa that can be asorpeed by brush border in intestine.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
17
Q

What do mucosal cells produce

A

Gastrin; hormone that binds to receptors on T cells that cause them to secrete pepsinogen (inactive precursor protein) and it also makes histamine which makes HCl via parietal cells.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
18
Q

What is the end result of the digestive system

A

liquid chyme

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
19
Q

How does pepsinogen turn to pepsin

A

Pepsinogen–>pepsin–>active and auto cleaves itself which starts process of protein digestion slightly

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
20
Q

Secretion initiated by CNS input is via

A

acetylcholine

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
21
Q

What does atropine, probanthine do

A

blocks acetylcholine interaction with muscarinic receptors.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
22
Q

What does cimetidine or ranitidine block

A

histamine interaction with H2 receptors

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
23
Q

What are the two hormones that the intestinal mucosa produces

A

cholecyskokinin: causes gall bladder to secrete bile salts to emulsify fats.
secretin: targets exocrine pancreas; secretes things into intestine which secretes zymogens and bicarbonate.

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
24
Q

What is the enzyme that the intestinal mucosa produces:

A

enteropeptidase which activates trypsinogen–>trypsin–> pancreatic zymogens: pro carboxypeptidase

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
25
Q

What are the enzymes involved in gall bladder and bile salts

A

chymotrypsinogen, procarboxypeptidase and proelastase

How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
26
Q

what do secretory cells secrete and what is the end result of it

A

zymogens and bicarbonate. End result is a single amino acids!

27
Q

What are the different classes of aa that the intestine uses for active transport systems

A
  1. neutral
  2. basic and Cys
  3. imino and Gly
  4. acidic
  5. beta amino acids: beta alanine, taurine
28
Q

What is Hartnup’s disease

A

similar to pellagra; niacine deficiency; bc this transporter transports tryptophan. you get dermatitis, diarrhea and dementia and inflammation of tongue and oral cavities.

29
Q

how do you get amino acids

A

from intracellular protein or dietary proteins

30
Q

what do the carbon skeletons do

A

Go into diff pathways: TCA cycle for energy production, ketone bodies which break down into acetyl coA for fatty acid synthesis, or glucose synthesis or glycogen storage

31
Q

What are the 3 basic processes

A
  1. Transport nitrogen to liver to synthesized into urea and excreted: transamination (moves nitrogen from aa to glutamate), glutamine synthase.
  2. nitrogen removal in liver: glutaminase, glutamate dehydrogenase
  3. Production of urea
32
Q

what are peripheral tissues

A

center of universe is liver so peripheral tissues are everything else

33
Q

what do peripheral tissues use in transamination

A

alpha keto gluturate –> funnel N to glutamate –> glutamine

34
Q

How does skeletal muscle transaminate

A

doesnt want to give up alpha keto glutarate (bc in TCA cycle) instead it sacrifices pyruvate to form alanine. Glutamine and alanine then travel through bloodstream to liver.

35
Q

What aa are most in blood

A
  1. glutamine
  2. alanine (these two bc they use N groups to transport to liver)
  3. all others are pretty low
36
Q

How does the glucose alanine cycle work in skeletal muscle

A

Pyruvate from skeletal muscle glucose metabolism is converted to Ala, sent to liver and converted back to glucose and sent back to muscle

37
Q

What is first step of nitrogen cycle

A

Transamination: Peripheral tissues will send nitrogen to liver via glutamine or alanine

38
Q

What are the major transaminases

A
  1. Glutamate Oxaloacetate Transaminase (GOT) which makes aspartate aminotransferase (AAT)
  2. Glutamate Pyruvate Transaminase (GPT): makes alanine amino transferase (ALT)
39
Q

How do transamination reactions occur?

A

swap positions of nitrogen group and keto group.

40
Q

Reactions occur in pairs. All aa can transaminate with alpha KG except:

A

Lysine, Thr, and Proline

41
Q

Which cofactor does it require

A

B6. (pyridoxal phosphate and pyridoxamine phosphate)

42
Q

What is second step

A

Alpha Ketoacid (usally alpha KG) picks up nitrogen group and comes off as glutamate.

43
Q

What if you used something else other than alpha KG

A

Pyruvate; goes off as alanine.

44
Q

Heart and liver has, but liver also has a lot of :

A

GOT; GPT. Both elevated it points to liver disease.

45
Q

What enzyme converts glutamate to glutamine synthase.

A

Glutamine synthase. Highly regulated! Bc once you make glutamine it gets transported out and goes to liver. When this happens it converts to urea and then gets excreted out forever.

46
Q

What are the allosteric modifiers in glutamine synthase regulation

A

amino acids, nucleotides, N compounds

47
Q

If glycine and alanine levels drop then

A

inhibition would be lost. Make glutamine for protein synthesis.

48
Q

Once in the liver, the nitrogens will be removed to be converted to _____. Alanine from muscle will transaminate with alpha KG to make _____. Glutamine will have side chain nitrogen removed via glutaminase and become _____

A

urea. Glutamate. Glutamate.

49
Q

What are the two things that glutamate does

A
  1. Transaminate with OAA to make Asp which will be used in the urea cycle
  2. Undergo oxidative deamination via glutamate dehydrogenase to regenerate alpha KG and NH4 which be used in the urea cycle.
50
Q

Hydrolytic deamination uses ____to exchange with NH2

A

water

51
Q

What is step 3 of the nitrogen cycle

A
  1. most ammonia is converted to urea in the LIVER
  2. You get 1 N from NH4, and 1 N from Asp
  3. You get 3 ATPs, and 4 high energy bonds
52
Q

Portions of the cycle occur in cytosol, other parts occur in:

A

mitochondria

53
Q

What are the nitrogen excretion products

A

86% urea, 2.8% ammonia, 1.5% uric acid

54
Q

What are normal BUN levels

A

8-25 mg% or 2.9 -8.9 mM

55
Q

What does high urea or BUN indicate

A

kidney problem; liver does its job of making urea

56
Q

What does high NH4+ indicate

A

liver problem; cause the liver doesnt convert ammonia to urea and some ammonia is escaping into bloodstream

57
Q

Oxaloacetate makes aps. Puruvate makes____

A

alanine

58
Q

What is the Urea Cycle

A

Starts in mitochondria matrix bc of free amonia. Take CO2 + free amonia and hook them together to make carbamoyl phosphate which condenses with citrulline which leaves mitochondria to transaminate to aspartate. It makes argeninosuccinate which gets transferred to fumerate which goes to TCA cycle. This also releases argenine wthic gets cleaved with water, regenerates to ornithine and releases UREA.

59
Q

What is the committed step of the urea cycle

A

carbamoyl phosphate synthesis; occurs in mitochondira

60
Q

What enzyme is responsbile for carbamoyl phosphate

A

carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I. This reaction is irreversible.

61
Q

What are non standard aa

A

no codon in genetic code for ornithine and citrulline

62
Q

Krebs Bicycle refers to oxaloacetate giving off aspartate which gets turned to :

A

fumerate

63
Q

why is ammonia so toxic

A
  1. depletes the TCA cycle intermediate alpha KG and thus NADH production which results in dec ATP production. Bran in highly ATP dependent.
  2. Depletes Glu and gammy aminobutyrate (GABA) both are neurotransmitters
  3. Build up of Gln inc. intracellular osmotic balance; water enters astrocytes; brain swells.
64
Q

What are genetic defects in urea metabolism

A
  1. usually cause mental retardation, seizures/coma

2. treatment requires careful control of diet and admin of detoxifying compounds.