Amino acids substances

Figure 1.1 The chemical structures of the main neurotransmitters. The relatively simple structure of acetylcholine, the monoamines and the amino acids contrasts with that of the peptides, the simplest of which are the enkephalins which consists of five amino acids substance P has eleven...

Description Vitamins, herbs or other botanicals, minerals, amino acids, substances intended to supplement the diet Substances approved by the FDA as prescription or nonprescription drugs... 

From the preceding, it should be remembered that tyrosin, phenylalanin, tryptophane, and the amino-acids substances that remain unchanged in he hydrol3 es realized by the digestive enzymes, are, on the contrary, the substances which are the most easily transformed in putrefactions, since they give rise to numerous derivatives, oxyacids, indol, and phenols. One of the characteristics of the action o the amidases secreted by the putrefactive bacteria appears to be the fact that they address themselves preferably to the aromatic substances which have come from proteolysis. 

The reactivity of the amino group can be strongly influenced by the presence of negative substituents in the amine molecule. For example, trinitroaniline and trichloroaniline do not react. On the other hand, in addition to primary aliphatic amines, aromatic amines, and amino acids, substances with an active methylene group also react (3). A positive reaction was also observed with substances such as guanidine, semicarbazide, phenyl-hydrazine, ethyleneimine, piperidine, piperazine, benzylcyanide, cyano-acetylacetone, diethyl malonate, ethyl acetoacetate, dibenzoylmethane, rhodanin, indole, methylphenylpyrazolone, resorcinol, phloroglucinol, and quaternary heterocyclic bases and oxonium salts. 

The amino-acids are colourless, crystalline substances which melt with decomposition. They are mostly soluble in water and insoluble in alcohol. 

M.p. 207°C. The naturally occurring substance is dextrorotatory. Arginine is one of the essential amino-acids and one of the most widely distributed products of protein hydrolysis. It is obtained in particularly high concentration from proteins belonging to the prolamine and histone classes. It plays an important role in the production of urea as an excretory product. 

The naturally occurring substance is L-aspartic acid. One of the acidic-amino acids obtained by the hydrolysis of proteins. 

CgHiiNO. M.p. 282 C (decomp.). The naturally occurring substance is laevorotatory. It is an amino-acid isolated from various plant sources, but not found in the animal body. It is formed from tyrosine as the first stage in the oxidation of tyrosine to melanin. It is used in the treatment of Parkinson s disease. 

CfiHqNaO . M.p. 277 C. The naturally occurring substance is laevorotatory. Histidine is one of the basic amino-acids occurring in the hydrolysis products of proteins, and particularly of the basic proteins, the protamines and histones. It is an essential constituent of the food of animals. 

C(,Hi3N02, CH3 CH2-CHMe-CHNH2-COOH. Colourless crystals, m.p. 284 C (decomp.). The naturally occurring substance is dextrorotatory. An amino-acid, occurring with leucine as a product of protein hydroly-... 

M.p. 283 C (decomp.). Soluble in water and alcohol. The naturally occurring substance is laevorotatory. Methionine is one of the natural sulphur-containing amino-acids, and is present in small quantities in the hydrolysis pro-... 

An amino-acid, although insoluble in water (e.g., anthranilic acid), is usually soluble in excess of mineral acid in such a case it is important to make the solution only very slightly acid. This applies also to a mixture of a neutral and a basic substance, from which dil. HCl will extract an amino-acid the solution must then be carefully treated with NaOH to precipitate the amino-acid. 

The exchange resins 6nd application in (i) the purification of water (cation-exchange resin to remove salts, followed by anion-exchange resin to remove free mineral acids and carbonic acid), (ii) removal of inorganic impurities from organic substances, (iii) in the partial separation of amino acids, and (iv) as catalysts in organic reactions (e.g., esterification. Section 111,102, and cyanoethylation. Section VI,22). 

The physical properties of a typical amino acid such as glycine suggest that it is a very polar substance much more polar than would be expected on the basis of its formula tion as H2NCH2CO2H Glycine is a crystalline solid it does not melt but on being heated It eventually decomposes at 233°C It is very soluble m water but practically insoluble m nonpolar organic solvents These properties are attributed to the fact that the stable form of glycine is a zwittenon, or inner salt... 

Critical micelle concentration (Section 19 5) Concentration above which substances such as salts of fatty acids aggre gate to form micelles in aqueous solution Crown ether (Section 16 4) A cyclic polyether that via lon-dipole attractive forces forms stable complexes with metal 10ns Such complexes along with their accompany mg anion are soluble in nonpolar solvents C terminus (Section 27 7) The amino acid at the end of a pep tide or protein chain that has its carboxyl group intact—that IS in which the carboxyl group is not part of a peptide bond Cumulated diene (Section 10 5) Diene of the type C=C=C in which a single carbon atom participates in double bonds with two others... 

Organic aromatic molecules are usually sweet, bitter, a combination of these, or tasteless, probably owing to lack of water solubiUty. Most characteristic taste substances, especially salty and sweet, are nonvolatile compounds. Many different types of molecules produce the bitter taste, eg, divalent cations, alkaloids, some amino acids, and denatoirium (14,15). 

The term hormone is used to denote a chemical substance, released from a cell into the extracellular fluid in low quantities, which acts on a target cell to produce a response. Hormones are classified on the basis of chemical stmcture most hormones are polypeptides, steroids (qv), or derived from single amino acids (qv) (Table 1). 

P-Endorphin. A peptide corresponding to the 31 C-terminal amino acids of P-LPH was first discovered in camel pituitary tissue (10). This substance is P-endorphin, which exerts a potent analgesic effect by binding to cell surface receptors in the central nervous system. The sequence of P-endorphin is well conserved across species for the first 25 N-terminal amino acids. Opiates derived from plant sources, eg, heroin, morphine, opium, etc, exert their actions by interacting with the P-endorphin receptor. On a molar basis, this peptide has approximately five times the potency of morphine. Both P-endorphin and ACTH ate cosecreted from the pituitary gland. Whereas the physiologic importance of P-endorphin release into the systemic circulation is not certain, this molecule clearly has been shown to be an important neurotransmitter within the central nervous system. Endorphin has been invaluable as a research tool, but has not been clinically useful due to the avadabihty of plant-derived opiates. 

The group of peptides known as tachykinins include substance P, substance K or neurokinin A, and neuromedin K, ie, neurokinin B, as well as a number of nonmammalian peptides. All members of this family contain the conserved carboxy-terrninal sequence Phe-X-Gly-Leu-Met-NH2, where X is an aromatic, ie, Phe or Tyr, or branched aliphatic, eg, Val or lie, amino acid. In general, this C-terminal sequence is cmcial for tachykinin activity (33) in fact, both the methionineamide and the C-terminal amide are cmcial for activity. The nature of the X residue in this sequence determines pharmacological identity (34,35) thus the substance P group contains an aromatic residue in this position, while the substance K group contains an aliphatic residue (33). 

Biosynthesis. Two closely related genes encode the three mammalian tachykinins. The preprotachykinin A gene encodes both substance P and substance K, while the preprotachykinin B gene encodes neuromedin K (45—47). The active sequences are flanked by the usual double-basic amino acid residues, and the carboxy-terrninal amino acid is a glycine residue which is decarboxylated to an amide. As with most neuropeptide precursors, intermediates in peptide processing can be detected, but their biological activities are not clear (ca 1994). 

CGRP has a wide distribution in the nervous system (19) and was the first peptide to be localized to motoneurons (124). It is also found in primary sensory neurons where it is colocalized with substance P (125). CGRP is derived from a precursor stmcturaHy related to the calcitonin precursor. The latter precursor produces two products, calcitonin itself and katacalcin, while the CGRP precursor produces one copy of CGRP (123). Like other peptides, CGRP is cleaved from its precursor by tryptic breakdown between double basic amino acid residues. 

Attempts to isolate GTF from brewer s yeast have resulted in production of very active concentrates, but the substance is too labile to be obtained in the soHd state (136). However, it has been shown that GTF is a Cr(III) complex containing two coordinated nicotinate radicals and other amino acid anions (146). Active preparations containing similar complexes have been synthesi2ed (147). Chromium deficiency may also lead to atherosclerosis and peripheral neuropathy. 

The presence of many nonprotein amino acids has been reported in various living metaboUtes, such as in antibiotics, some other microbial products, and in nonproteinaceous substances of animals and plants (7). Plant amino acids (8) and seleno amino acids (9) have been reviewed. 

Proteias are metabolized coatiauously by all living organisms, and are ia dyaamic equilibrium ia living cells (6,12). The role of amino acids ia proteia biosyathesis has beea described (2). Most of the amino acids absorbed through the digestioa of proteias are used to replace body proteias. The remaining portioa is metabolized iato various bioactive substances such as hormones and purine and pyrimidine nucleotides, (the precursors of DNA and RNA) or is consumed as an energy source (6,13). 

Table 6. Fermentative Production of Amino Acids and Their Related Substances from Carbohydrates ...

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