Arginase and Arginine Decarboxylase - Where Do the Putative Gate Keepers of Polyamine Synthesis Reside in Rat Brain?

ABSTRACT: Polyamines are important regulators of basal cellular functions but also subserve highly specific tasks in the mammalian brain. With this respect, polyamines and the synthesizing and degrading enzymes are clearly differentially distributed in neurons versus glial cells and also in different brain areas. The synthesis of the diamine putrescine may be driven via two different pathways. In the "classical" pathway urea and carbon dioxide are removed from arginine by arginase and ornithine decarboxylase. The alternative pathway, first removing carbon dioxide by arginine decarboxlyase and then urea by agmatinase, may serve the same purpose. Furthermore, the intermediate product of the alternative pathway, agmatine, is an endogenous ligand for imidazoline receptors and may serve as a neurotransmi

SUBMITTER: Peters D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3686689 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature