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Science 11 January 1974:
Vol. 183. no. 4120, pp. 81 - 83
DOI: 10.1126/science.183.4120.81
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Articles

agr-Ketoglutaramate: Increased Concentrations in the Cerebrospinal Fluid of Patients in Hepatic Coma

Fernando Vergara 1, Fred Plum 1, and Thomas E. Duffy 1

1 Department of Neurology, Cornell University Medical College, New York 10021

agr-Ketoglutaramate, a deaminated metabolite of glutamine not previously identified in biological tissues, was measured in the cerebrospinal fluid of human subjects and found to be increased three- to tenfold in patients with hepatic coma. When perfused into the cerebral lateral ventricles of rats, agr-ketoglutaramate (10 mM) depressed the animals' nocturnal locomotor activity, and at higher doses induced circling behavior and myoclonus. The concentration of agr-ketoglutaramate in cerebrospinal fluid appears to be a reliable diagnostic indicator of hepatic coma, and its accumulation may contribute to the pathogenesis of this disease.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)