title: Identification of beta-aspartylglycine in uremic serum and its toxicity.
abstract: An unidentified ninhydrin-positive substance of acidic nature was found in the serum of uremic patients. This substance was isolated from hemodialysate by the methods of ion-exchange chromatography, gel-filtration and paper electrophoresis, and identified as beta-aspartylglycine by amino acid analysis, N-terminal amino acid determination and comparison with authentic sample synthesized in this laboratory. The quantitative determination of beta-aspartylglycine in serum revealed that the serum concentrations of beta-aspartyl-glycine in uremic patients increased much higher than those in normal subjects. The toxicity of beta-aspartylglycine in mice with acute renal failure induced by uranyl acetate was investigated. The mice given more than 1,0 g/kg body weight of beta-aspartylglycine showed behavioral alterations: low response to the stimuli and low activity, and some mice died by the injection of 4.0 g/kg body weight of the peptide. These results suggested that beta-aspartyl-glycine might be a possible factor which influences the development of uremic toxaemia.
mesh_terms: D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000139:chemically induced; D000818:Animals; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D004151:Dipeptides / Q000097:blood* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D005998:Glycine / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D014511:Uremia / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D004151:Dipeptides; D001224:Aspartic Acid; D005998:Glycine