title: Nitrogen metabolism of asparagine and glutamate in Vero cells studied by (1)H/ (15)N NMR spectroscopy.
abstract: Glutamine-free culture of Vero cells has previously been shown to cause higher cell yield and lower ammonia accumulation than that in glutamine-containing culture. Nitrogen metabolism of asparagine and glutamate as glutamine replacer was studied here using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. (15)N-labelled glutamate or asparagine was added and their incorporation into nitrogenous metabolites was monitored by heteronuclear multiple bond coherence (HMBC) NMR spectroscopy. In cells incubated with L: -[(15)N]glutamate, the (15)N label was subsequently found in a number of metabolites including alanine, aspartate, proline, and an unidentified compound. No detectable (15)NH(+)(4) signal occurred, indicating that glutamate was utilized by transamination rather than by oxidative deamination. In cells incubated with L: -[2-(15)N]asparagine, the (15)N label was subsequently found in aspartate, the amine group of glutamate/glutamine, and in two unidentified compounds. Incubation of cells with L: -[4-(15)N]asparagine showed that the amide nitrogen of asparagine was predominantly transferred to glutamine amide. There was no detectable production of (15)NH(+)(4), showing that most of the asparagine amide was transaminated by asparagine synthetase rather than deaminated by asparaginase. Comparing with a glutamine-containing culture, the activities of phosphate-activated glutaminase (PAG), glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) decreased significantly and the activity of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) decreased slightly.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Bioreactor Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China.
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Yihua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xiaoping
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Yuanxing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001216:Asparagine / Q000378:metabolism*; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D003470:Culture Media; D005971:Glutamates / Q000378:metabolism*; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000378:metabolism; D014709:Vero Cells
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D005971:Glutamates; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D001216:Asparagine; D009584:Nitrogen