title: Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, caffeine model: increase of purine and pyrimidine enzymes in rat brain.
abstract: Rats ingesting high doses of caffeine reproduce the self-destructive behaviour observed in the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome. This syndrome includes a deficit in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. We have observed, however, that the activity of hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase increases in direct proportion to the concentration of caffeine found in rat brain. It appears, therefore, that the caffeine model is not a true model for the Lesch-Nyhan syndrome, or alternatively, that the deficit in hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase is coincidental and not a main key to the multifarious aspects of the syndrome, particularly the self-mutilation. The possibility that levels of dopamine are increased in the caffeine model are discussed as a basis for the destructive behaviour. We have found also that ingestion of large amounts of caffeine increases the activities in rat brain of adenosine deaminase, purine nucleoside phosphorylase, aspartate carbamoyl-transferase, dihydroorotase, and dihydroorotate oxidase.
mesh_terms: D000243:Adenosine Deaminase / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001221:Aspartate Carbamoyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000201:enzymology*; D002110:Caffeine; D004080:Dihydroorotase / Q000378:metabolism; D004081:Dihydroorotate Oxidase / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D007926:Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000201:enzymology*; D008297:Male; D011683:Purine-Nucleoside Phosphorylase / Q000378:metabolism; D011687:Purines / Q000378:metabolism*; D011743:Pyrimidines / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D011687:Purines; D011743:Pyrimidines; D002110:Caffeine; D004081:Dihydroorotate Oxidase; D001221:Aspartate Carbamoyltransferase; D011683:Purine-Nucleoside Phosphorylase; D007041:Hypoxanthine Phosphoribosyltransferase; D004080:Dihydroorotase; D000243:Adenosine Deaminase