title: [The clinical implications of the use of an amino acid mixture without tryptophan in liver cirrhosis].
abstract: The ingestion of an amino acid mixture lacking tryptophan causes a rapid fall of plasma tryptophan in healthy subjects. This is because amino acids elicit protein synthesis and endogenous tryptophan is incorporated into new proteins. If protein synthesis is the mechanism through which tryptophan-free solution decrease blood tryptophan, it may be interesting to study tryptophan levels after a tryptophan-free mixture in subjects with impaired protein synthesis. In the present paper we show that in 27 cirrhotics the administration of a tryptophan-free solution caused a fall of total plasma tryptophan that began significantly later than in 14 control subjects, the delay being significantly proportional to the severity of the disease. The difference between control and cirrhotic subjects was due to the bound fraction of plasma tryptophan. The diagnostic and clinical usefulness of our findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Terapia medica sistematica, Università, Modena.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rocchi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borghi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pradelli
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Paolillo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Casalgrandi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Benedetti
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Moja
mesh_terms: D000596:Amino Acids / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004338:Drug Combinations; D004341:Drug Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000097:blood / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D013997:Time Factors; D014364:Tryptophan / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D004338:Drug Combinations; D014364:Tryptophan
vernacular_title: Implicazioni cliniche dell' utilizzo di una miscela aminoacidica priva di triptofano nella cirrosi epatica.