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Citrulline metabolism in cultured fibroblasts : citrullinemia analysis and nitric oxide production

A citrullinemic fibroblast cell line was used in this study to investigate two biochemical pathways involving citrulline. In the first section, the genetic mutation responsible for the argininosuccinate synthetase (-ASS) deficiency (1-5% activity) in this cell line was investigated. PCR analysis of...

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Main Author: Shires, Karen Lesley
Other Authors: Harley, Eric H
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Division of Chemical Pathology 2018
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access_status_str Open Access
author Shires, Karen Lesley
author2 Harley, Eric H
author_browse Harley, Eric H
Shires, Karen Lesley
author_facet Harley, Eric H
Shires, Karen Lesley
author_sort Shires, Karen Lesley
collection Thesis
description A citrullinemic fibroblast cell line was used in this study to investigate two biochemical pathways involving citrulline. In the first section, the genetic mutation responsible for the argininosuccinate synthetase (-ASS) deficiency (1-5% activity) in this cell line was investigated. PCR analysis of the ASS cDNA revealed that the mRNA coding region (1236bp) was intact, showing no signs of major rearrangements. The ASS cDNA (1307bp) was cloned and sequenced and showed the presence of a single base mutation at position 1045bp, which represented a G->A transition. This mutation resulted in a glycine -> serine amino acid substitution at position 324 in the ASS subunit protein sequence. Although this glycine residue was not found to occur in any potential substrate binding sites, it was shown to be highly conserved among species, indicating a possible role of this amino acid in ASS catalytic activity. In the second section, the presence of the nitric oxide pathway in fibroblasts was investigated. Inducible nitric oxide synthase activity was assayed by measuring the production of ¹⁴C-citrulline from ¹⁴C-arginine after cytokine stimulation. By using the citrullinemic cell line (ASS deficient) any citrulline that may be produced by this pathway would accumulate, allowing detection. Under the assay conditions that were tested, no detectable ¹⁴C-citrulline was formed. Evidence suggests that human fibroblasts have the potential to synthesise nitric oxide, although a more sensitive assay system may need to be employed (longer cytokine activation, nitrite/nitrate detection).
format Thesis
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:31:41.113Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2018
publishDateRange 2018
publishDateSort 2018
publisher Division of Chemical Pathology
publisherStr Division of Chemical Pathology
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/27031 Citrulline metabolism in cultured fibroblasts : citrullinemia analysis and nitric oxide production Shires, Karen Lesley Harley, Eric H Chemical Pathology Citrulline - Metabolism Fibroblasts - chemistry Nitric Oxide - metabolism A citrullinemic fibroblast cell line was used in this study to investigate two biochemical pathways involving citrulline. In the first section, the genetic mutation responsible for the argininosuccinate synthetase (-ASS) deficiency (1-5% activity) in this cell line was investigated. PCR analysis of the ASS cDNA revealed that the mRNA coding region (1236bp) was intact, showing no signs of major rearrangements. The ASS cDNA (1307bp) was cloned and sequenced and showed the presence of a single base mutation at position 1045bp, which represented a G->A transition. This mutation resulted in a glycine -> serine amino acid substitution at position 324 in the ASS subunit protein sequence. Although this glycine residue was not found to occur in any potential substrate binding sites, it was shown to be highly conserved among species, indicating a possible role of this amino acid in ASS catalytic activity. In the second section, the presence of the nitric oxide pathway in fibroblasts was investigated. Inducible nitric oxide synthase activity was assayed by measuring the production of ¹⁴C-citrulline from ¹⁴C-arginine after cytokine stimulation. By using the citrullinemic cell line (ASS deficient) any citrulline that may be produced by this pathway would accumulate, allowing detection. Under the assay conditions that were tested, no detectable ¹⁴C-citrulline was formed. Evidence suggests that human fibroblasts have the potential to synthesise nitric oxide, although a more sensitive assay system may need to be employed (longer cytokine activation, nitrite/nitrate detection). 2018-01-29T06:45:52Z 2018-01-29T06:45:52Z 1994 Master Thesis Masters MSc (Med) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27031 eng application/pdf Division of Chemical Pathology Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Chemical Pathology
Citrulline - Metabolism
Fibroblasts - chemistry
Nitric Oxide - metabolism
Shires, Karen Lesley
Citrulline metabolism in cultured fibroblasts : citrullinemia analysis and nitric oxide production
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Citrulline metabolism in cultured fibroblasts : citrullinemia analysis and nitric oxide production
title_full Citrulline metabolism in cultured fibroblasts : citrullinemia analysis and nitric oxide production
title_fullStr Citrulline metabolism in cultured fibroblasts : citrullinemia analysis and nitric oxide production
title_full_unstemmed Citrulline metabolism in cultured fibroblasts : citrullinemia analysis and nitric oxide production
title_short Citrulline metabolism in cultured fibroblasts : citrullinemia analysis and nitric oxide production
title_sort citrulline metabolism in cultured fibroblasts citrullinemia analysis and nitric oxide production
topic Chemical Pathology
Citrulline - Metabolism
Fibroblasts - chemistry
Nitric Oxide - metabolism
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27031
work_keys_str_mv AT shireskarenlesley citrullinemetabolisminculturedfibroblastscitrullinemiaanalysisandnitricoxideproduction