N-Acetylaspartate

Early neuronal damage detected by immunohistochemistry has been confirmed by brain magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) analysis of the neuronal marker N-acetylaspartate (NAA) (commonly expressed as an NAA/creatine ratio NAA/ Cr) in the acute and chronic phases of infection in SIV-infected macaques (Fuller et al. 2004 Greco et al. 2004 Lentz et al. 2005 Lentz et al. 2008 Williams et al. 2005). In a macaque model involving CD8h- T lymphocyte depletion along with SIV inoculation, Williams et al. (2005) demonstrated a reduction in NAA/Cr in the... 

Bates TE, S.M., Keeian J, Davey GP, Munro PM, Ciark JB. Inhibition of N-acetylaspartate production implications for 1H MRS studies in vivo. Neuroreport 1996 7 1397-1400. 

Tsai G. N-acetylaspartate in Neuropsychiatric Disorders. Prog Neurobiol 1995 46 531-540. 

Canavan s disease is the result of a deficiency of the enzyme that breaks down N-acetylaspartate, an important donor of acetyl groups for brain myelin synthesis 682... 

Canavan s disease Absence of N-acetylaspartate acylase Rapidly progressive demyelinating disease of infancy Gene therapy (experimental)... 

Urinary excretion of N-acetylaspartate is elevated and the cerebrospinal fluid concentration may be 50 times control values. The cause is a deficiency of aspartoacylase, which cleaves N-acetylaspartate to form aspartate and acetyl-CoA. The enzyme occurs primarily in the white matter, but N-acetylaspartate is most abundant in gray matter. The defect is expressed in skin fibroblasts. 

N-acetylaspartate is among the most abundant amino acids in the brain, although its precise function remains elusive. Putative roles have included osmoregulation and... 

Callicott, J. H., Bertolino, A., Egan, M. F. et al. Selective relationship between prefrontal N-acetylaspartate measures and negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Am. J. Psychiatry 157 1646-1651,2000. 

Baslow MH (2003) N-acetylaspartate in the vertebrate brain metabolism and function. Neurochem... 

Fig. 4. 500 MHz DOSY spectrum of a D2O solution of a perchloric acid extract of gerbil brain. Assignments of selected signals are indicated as follows ac = acetate ala = alanine cho = choline cr = creatine ere = creatinine etn = ethanolamine GABA = 7-aminobutyric acid glu = glutamate GPC = glycerophosphocholine lac = lactate m-ino = myo-inositol NAA = N-acetylaspartate succ = succinate and tau = taurine. (Raw data...

DeBellis, M.D., Keshavan, M.S., Spencer, S., and Hall, J. (2000) N-Acetylaspartate concentration in the anterior cingulate of maltreated children and adolescents with PTSD. Am ] Psychiatry 157 1175-1177. 

Fig. 1.1 Chemical structures of glutamate and aspartate and corresponding amines. Glutamine (a) glutamate (b) asparagine (c) aspartate (d) N-acetylaspartate (e) and N-acetylaspartyl-glutamate (f)...

Baslow M. H. (2003a). Brain N-acetylaspartate as a molecular water pump and its role in the etiology of Canavan disease a mechanistic explanation. J. Mol. Neurosci. 21 185-190. 

Baslow M. H., Suckow R. F., and Hungund B. L. (2000). Effects of ethanol and of alcohol dehydrogenase inhibitors on the reduction of N-acetylaspartate levels of brain in mice in vivo a search for substances that may have therapeutic value in the treatment of Canavan disease. J. Inherit. Metab Dis. 23 684-692. 

Belli A., Sen J., Petzold A., Russo S., Kitchen N., Smith M., Tavazzi B., Vagnozzi R., Signoretti S., Amorini A. M., Bellia F., and Lazzarino G. (2006). Extracellular N-acetylaspartate depletion in traumatic brain injury. J. Neurochem. 96 861-869. 

Jalil M. A., Begum L., Contreras L., Pardo B., Iijima M., Li M. X., Ramos M., Marmol P, Horiuchi M., Shimotsu K., Nakagawa S., Okubo A., Sameshima M., Isashiki Y., Del Arco A., Kobayashi K., Satrustegui J., and Saheki T. (2005). Reduced N-acetylaspartate levels in mice lacking aralar, a brain- and muscle-type mitochondrial aspartate-glutamate carrier. J. Biol. Chem. 280 31333-31339. 

De Belbs MD, Keshavan MS, Harenski KA (2001) Anterior cingulate N-acetylaspartate/creatine ratios during clonidine treatment in a maltreated child with posttraumatic stress disorder. J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol 11 311-316... 

Reynolds LM, Cochran SM, Morris BJ, Pratt JA, Reynolds GP. 2005. Chronic phencyclidine administration induces schizophrenia-like changes in N-acetylaspartate and N-acetylaspartylglutamate in rat brain. Schizophr Res 73 147-152. 

Bertolino A, Breier A, Callicott JH, Adler C, Mattay VS, et al. 2000. The relationship between dorsolateral prefrontal neuronal N- acetylaspartate and evoked release of striatal dopamine in schizophrenia. Neuropsychopharmacology 22 125-132. 

BaslowMH, GuilfoyleDN. 2006. Functions of N-acetylaspartate and N-acetylaspartylglutamate in brain Evidence of a role in maintenance of higher brain integrative activities of information processing and cognition. Adv Exp Med Biol 576 95-112 ... 

Bertolino A, Callicott JH, Mattay VS, Weidenhammer KM, Rakow R, et al. 2001. The effect of treatment with antipsychotic drugs on brain N-acetylaspartate measures in patients with schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 49 39-46. 

Bertolino A, Esposito G, Callicott JH, Mattay VS, Van Horn JD, et al. 2000b. Specific relationship between prefrontal neuronal N-acetylaspartate and activation of the working memory cortical network in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 157 26-33. 

N-acetylaspartate measures and negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 157 1646-1651. 

Deicken RF, Johnson C, Eliaz Y, Schuff N. 2000. Reduced concentrations of thalamic N-acetylaspartate in male patients with schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 157 644-647. 

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