• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.102-107
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• 1998

It has not been clear whether L-arginine plays solely a role contributing to vascular nitric oxide (NO) synthesis. To investigate the mechanisms by which L-arginine induces vasorelaxation, effects of L-arginine on the isometric tension, and tissue NOx and cyclic guanosine monophosphate(cGMP) contents were examined in the isolated rat thoracic aorta. L-Arginine induced a dose-dependent relaxation of aortic rings only with intact endothelium only. The vasorelaxation response to low concentrations of L-arginine was abolished by the pretreatment with NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester(L-NAME, 10-4 mol/L), whereas the relaxation caused by higher concentrations L-arginine(10-5-10-3 mol/L) was maintained and even more pronounced in the presence of L-NAME. L-Arginine did not affect the vascular tension precontracted with KCl. The vascular tissue contents of NOx/cGMP were not significantly affected by L-arginine, while they were decreased by L-NAME. L-Arginine could not completely recover the NOx/cGMP decreased by L-NAME. Methylene blue only partially antagonized the relaxation response to L-arginine. Indomethacin did not affect the L-arginine-induced vasorelaxation, whereas ouabain markedly attenuated the relaxation. It is suggested that L-arginine induces vasorelaxation not only through its contribution to NO synthesis, but also through enhancing another endothelium-dependent mechanism which is NO/cGMP-independent and cyclooxygenase- independent.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.235-241
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• 2007

The aim of this study was to define an arginine effect when added to a diet. The influence of arginine supplements on bone mineral density and content were studied in young female Sprague-Dawley rats fed either an arginine supplemented diet or control diet. Twenty four rats (body weight $83{\pm}5g$) were randomly assigned to one of two groups, consuming casein or casein with supplemented arginine diet. All rats were fed on experimental diet and deionized water ad libitum for 9 weeks. Bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) were measured using PIXImus (GE Lunar Co, Wisconsin, USA) in spine and femur 3, 6, and 9 weeks after feeding. The serum and urine concentrations of Ca and P were determined. Diet did not affect weight gain and mean food intake. The serum concentration of Ca and P were not changed by arginine supplementation. Urinary Ca excretion was significantly decreased by arginine supplementation. Spine BMD was significantly increased by arginine supplementation on 3 and 6 weeks after feeding. Femur BMD was significantly increased in the group of arginine supplementation on 3, 6, and 9 weeks. Rats fed the arginine-supplemented diet had better bone mineral content than did control diet rats in the experimental period. Therefore, arginine supplementation may be beneficial on spine and femur BMD increment in growing female rats. These are thought to be associated with an arginine-induced growth hormone release. The exact mechanism of this effect remains to be elucidated.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.115-125
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• 1993

In Euglena gracilis arginine deiminase was located in the mitochondrial matrix. The highly purified enzyme required $Co^{2+}$ for the enzyme reaction with the $K_m$ value of 0.23 nM, and its optimum pH was 9.7 to 10.3. The molecular weight of the native enzyme protein was 87,000 by gel filtration, and SDS-acrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the enzyme consisted of two identical subunits with a molecular weight of 48,000. Euglena arginine deiminase was inhibited by sulfhydryl inhibitors, indicating that a sulfhydryl group is involved in the active center of the enzyme. It exhibited negative cooperativity in binding with arginine. $L-{\alpha}-amino-{\beta}-guanidino-propionate$, D-arginine, and L-homoarginine strongly inhibited the enzyme while ${\beta}-guanidinopro-pionate$, ${\gamma}-guanidinobutyrate$, and guanidinosuccinate did not. Considerable inhibition was also observed with citrulline and ornithine. We discuss the effects of the unique properties of the Euglena arginine deiminase on the regulation of arginine metabolism in this protozoon.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1076-1080
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• 1996

The results about the myocardial protection of recta of the nitric oxide precursor L-arginine upon reperrusion injury after ischemia are diverse. These diversities may be model dependent. Experiments were designed and performed to investigate myocardial protection effects according to the concentration of L-arginine. The Isolated rat hearts were subjected in a 30 minutes oi normothermic ischemia and reperfused for 30 minutes with reperfusate containing 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 moil L-arginine. After 30 minutes of reperfusion, group with 1 and 2 mM/L L-arginine showed a trend of better recovery in left ventricular systolic function(left ventricular developed pressure, positive maximum dpfdt), diastolic function(negative maximum dpfdt) and coronary flow compared to control group(reperfusate no L-arginine). Recovery was impaired with a higher concentration, and at 4 moil L-arginine r covery was worse than control(p (0, 05). These results suggest that optimal concentration of L-arginine Is Important or the recovery of myocardial and endothelial function after ischemia and reperfusion.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.320-326
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• 2007

An important related question is whether arginine has influence bone metabolism. The effect of arginine supplements on bone markers and related hormones were studied in young female Sprague-Dawley rats fed either an arginine supplemented diet or control diet. Twenty four rats (body weight 83${\pm}$5 g) were randomly assigned to one of two groups, consuming casein or casein with supplemented arginine diet. All rats were fed on experimental diet and deionized water ad libitum for 9 weeks. Bone formation was measured by serum osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) concentrations. And bone resorption rate was measured by deoxypyridinoline (DPD) crosslinks immunoassay and corrected for creatinine. Serum osteocalcin, growth hormone, estrogen, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcitonin were analyzed using radioimmunoassay kits. The weight gain and mean food intake were not affected regardless of diets. The rats fed arginine-supplemented diet had not significantly different in ALP, osteocalcin, crosslinks value, PTH, estradiol, and IGF-1 compared to those fed casein diet group. The arginine-supplemented group had significantly higher growth hormone and calcitonin than casein group. This study suggests that arginine is beneficial for bone formation in growing female rats. Therefore exposure to diet which rich in arginine early in life may have benefits for bone formation and osteoporosis prevention.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.337-341
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• 2022

In this study, the effect of the combined use of a lipid-soluble n-hexane extract of red ginseng marc (HERGM) and water-soluble arginine, which exhibits anticaries activity, on the growth of Streptococccus mutans was investigated. As a result of checkerboard assay, HERGM and arginine showed a synergistic effect in inhibiting the growth of S. mutans with a fractional inhibitory concentration index of 0.396. Combination treatments of HERGM and arginine resulted in leakage of nucleic acid components and decrease in the viable cell counts of S. mutans, all of which were proportional to the concentration of HERGM. In conclusion, the synergistic effect of HERGM and arginine on the growth inhibition of S. mutans is mainly attributed to HERGM.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.309-317
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• 2009

As far as we know, there were no studies of the effect of L-arginine on bone metabolism in post-menopausal women or ovariectomized rats. The primary objective of the current study was to determine whether arginine supplementation was associated with alterations in femoral and spinal bone mineral density (BMD) and bone markers in ovariectomized (Ovx) rats. Forty female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups, Ovx and sham groups, which were each randomly divided into two subgroups that were fed control and arginine supplemented diet. All rats were fed on experimental diet and deionized water ad libitum for 9 weeks. Bone formation was measured by serum osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) concentrations. Bone resorption was measured by deoxypyridinoline (DPD) crosslinks immunoassay and corrected for creatinine. Serum osteocalcin, growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), parathyroid hormone (PTH) and calcitonin were analyzed using radioimmunoassay kits. Bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) were measured using PIXImus (GE Lunar Co, Wisconsin, USA) in spine and femur. The serum and urine concentrations of Ca and P were determined. The plasma was analyzed for arginine. Diet did not affect weight gain, mean food intake, and plasma arginine concentration. Urinary Ca excretion was decreased by arginine supplementation in Ovx rats, but statistically not significant. The Ovx rats fed arginine-supplemented diet were not significantly different in ALP, osteocalcin, crosslinks value, PTH, calcitonin and IGF-1 compared to those fed control diet. The arginine-supplemented group had significantly higher serum Ca and growth hormone than control group. Spine and femur BMD were significantly increased by arginine supplementation on 5th and 9th weeks after feeding. Our findings indicate that dietary L-arginine supplementation decreased bone mineral density loss in Ovx rats. Therefore, dietary arginine supplementation may represent a potentially useful strategy for the management of osteoporosis.

• Korean Journal of Exercise Nutrition
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.51-59
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of endurance training and prolonged L-arginine supplementation on blood glucose, blood insulin, muscle glycogen, muscle glycogen synthase (GS), muscle nitric oxide (NO), muscle nitric oxide synthase (NOS), endurance performance. We equally divided 36 Sprague-Dawley mice to be distributed into control group, L-NMMA treated group and L-arginine treated group. The L-arginine treated group and L-NMMA treated group consumed 10 mg/kg/day of L-arginine and 5 mg/kg/day of L-NMMA for 6 weeks period. Mice of control group, L-arginine treated group, and L-NMMA treated groups performed swimming exercise training for 60 min once a day, 5 days per week for 6 weeks. Blood glucose had tendency to increase in L-arginine treated group than the control group, and insulin significantly increased in L-arginine treated group than the control group. L-arginine treated group showed significant increase in glycogen, GS, NO and NOS in the gastrocnemius muscle and soleus muscle compared to the control group. Whereas L-NMMA treated group showed the lowest glycogen, GS, NO and NOS in the gastrocnemius muscle and soleus muscle compared to control group and L-arginine treated group. Exhaustive swimming time had tendency to increase in L-arginine treated group compared to the value for control group. These reults indicate that endurance training and prolonged L-arginine supplementation appear to be effective in exhancing nitric oxide production, glycogen concentration and endurance performance.

• Food Quality and Culture
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2008

In order to determine whether green tea tannin ameliorates abnormal arginine metabolism as the result of excessive arginine, we have assessed the effects of the administration of green tea tannin mixture in rats treated 30 days with 2% arginine. In the arginine-treated group, the level of guanidino compounds such as arginine (Arg), guanidinoacetic acid (GAA), creatinine (Cr), methylguanidine (MG) and guanidinosuccinic acid (GSA), nitric oxide, urea, protein and glucose increased significantly in the serum, urine and kidney, whereas the oxygen species-scavenging enzymes of kidney were reduced as compared with the non-arginine-treated group. By way of contrast, the administration of green tea tannin reduced blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine, and reduced the urinary excretion of guanidinoacetic acid, creatinine, and $NO_2^-+NO_3^-$. The increased levels of urinary urea, protein and glucose in the arginine-treated group were also lowered by the administration of green tea tannin. In these groups, the activities of superoxide dismutase and catalase in the kidney were increased, thereby suggesting the involvement of radicals in the normalizing of kidney function. These results show that the abnormal renal function induced by the adminstration of excessive arginine in rats may be restored by treatment with green tea tannin.

• The Journal of Natural Sciences
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.35-41
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• 1996

To find the substrate interacting site of the MCAT1, charged amino acid residues in the transmembrane domain were changed to opposite charged amino acids and studied the arginine uptake, gp70 binding, efflux and protein expression using the Xenopus oocyte expression method. Among the five mutants of MCAT1, the D403K showed the most interesting characteristics, which had normal gp70 binding but low arginine uptake function, that means the normal expression on the membrane but decreased transport function. All mutants except K211E showed decreased arginine efflux, and kinetic study showed decreased Vmax. Together, Clu(403) residue of MCAT1 may show the possible substrate interacting site in the transmembrane domain of MCAT1.