The mechanism by which amino acids increase the cellular levels of orotic acid (OA) was investigated. Administration ofglycine (2.5 mmoles/100 g) to rats resulted in a 100-fold increase in urinary OA excretion, which was inhibited by pretreatment with cycloheximide or actinomycin D. The induction of OA synthesis from NH,Cl but not from carbamoylaspartate (CA) was inhibited by cycloheximide, indicating that the cycloheximide sensitive step was after the formation of ammonia and before the formation of CA. The glycine-stimulated OA synthesis was not inhibited by acivicin, a potent inhibitor of the cytosolic carbamoylphosphate (CP) synthctase, implicating the mitochondria1 CP synthetase in supplying the CP for OA synthesis. Preliminary results indicated that cycloheximide did not inhibit glycine-induced urea synthesis to any significant extent. The results thus suggest that (i) the increased OA synthesis induced by glycine requires a transcription-translation dependent step and (ii) the regulatory step may be the transport of mitochondria1 CP to cytosol and/or the synthesis of cytosolic CA. Attempts to determine whether increased exposure of urinary bladder to high concentrations of OA will influence bladder tumorigenesis revealed that chronic administration ofglycine (2.5 mmoles/lOO g, ip, daily, 5 days a week for 20 weeks) resulted in a 44% increased incidence of hyperplastic, preneoplastic, and neoplastic lesions. Some of these rats also exhibited stones in urinary bladders. The mechanism by which glycine induces tumorigenesis in the urinary bladder is currently being explored.
Administration of either ammonia or glycine to both rats and mice results in an increased synthesis in the liver and urinary excretion of orotic acid. The two most relevant observations obtained are that carbamoyl phosphate synthesized inside the mitochondria is involved in the increased synthesis of orotic acid and that this latter process is almost completely abolished by cycloheximide and actinomycin D, inhibitors of protein and RNA synthesis. Orotic acid synthesis could be controlled by an inductionsuppression mechanism. Inhibition of synthesis of excess orotic acid brought about by N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartic acid but not by acivicin, suggests that glutamine-dependent cytosolic synthesis of carbamoyl phosphate, is not involved. Administration of ornithine together with glycine completely suppressed the synthesis of orotic acid, but promoted a twofold increase of urea excretion. The concentration of ornithine rather than that of carbamoyl phosphate or the activity of the enzymes involved, may represent a limiting factor controlling both the flux of ammonia in the urea cycle and the availability of mitochondrial carbamoyl phosphate for orotic acid synthesis. Two enzymes have been found to be induced by glycine: ornithine decarboxylase and aspartate transcarbamoylase (aspartate carbamoyltransferase). Both enzymes may contribute to the increase in orotic acid synthesis, aspartate transcarbamoylase more directly and ornithine decarboxylase by lowering the ornithine concentration. Ornithine decarboxylase activity was completely suppressed but that of aspartate transcarbamoylase was further increased by cycloheximide treatment. Inhibition of orotic acid biosynthesis by cycloheximide appears to be the result of a decreased availability in the cytosol of carbamoyl phosphate synthesized inside the mitochondria.Keywords : cycloheximide; carbamoyl phosphate and ammonia metabolism; liver mitochondria and pyrimidine biosynthesis ; orotic acid and carcinogenesis.Orotic acid, a cellular intermediate in the biogenesis of py-development [3]. Many of these disorders associated with increased levels of orotic acid pertain to impairments of the urea rimidine nucleotides, has been shown to be an efficient liver tumor promoter in the rat [1, 2]. Orotic acid has also been shown cycle [7]. Data have been obtained suggesting that the excess carbamoyl phosphate, generated inside the mitochondria by the to promote carcinogenesis in several other organs including the mammary gland [3], duodenum [4], and pancreas [5]. Further-activity of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase 1 (ammonia-dependent), can be utilized in the cytosol for orotic acid biosynthesis more, orotic acid promotes carcinogenesis not only in rats but also in mice [6] and hamsters [5]. There are metabolic and ge-[8Ϫ10] (see also Fig. 1). Administration of excess ammonia[11Ϫ13], amino acids, and proteins [14] or exposure to a diet netic disorders that are associated with high levels of orotic acid, and some of these disorders pose increased risk of liver cancer deficient in ...
Feeding excess orotic acid (OA) in the diet promotes the carcinogenic process in different organs including the liver. A number of metabolic and genetic disorders are associated with increased synthesis of endogenous OA and some of these disorders appear to pose an increased risk of liver cancer development. This study therefore examines whether excess OA of endogenous origin also exerts a promoting effect on hepatocarcinogenesis in the mouse and the rat. Increased endogenous synthesis of OA was achieved by (i) feeding a diet deficient in arginine (AD) and (ii) feeding excess dietary carbamylaspartate (CA), a precursor for the synthesis of OA. A single dose of diethylnitrosamine (DENA) was given i.p. to male Fischer 344 rats (200 mg/kg) or to male DBA/2 mice (90 mg/kg). One week later they were placed on either AD diet or the same diet supplemented with 1.35% arginine (AS) for a total of 4 weeks. Two-thirds partial hepatectomy (PH) was performed at the end of the second week. All animals were then transferred to a control semisynthetic basal diet for a total of 20 weeks before they were killed. The results indicated that AD diet increased the incidence of hepatic nodules in both rats (percentage area occupied by nodules was 4.7 +/- 0.4 in the AD group compared to a control value of 0.7 +/- 0.5) and mice (4/10 mice had nodules > 5 mm diameter in the AD group while none in the AS group had such large nodules). In another experiment male Fischer 344 rats similarly initiated with DENA were exposed to either basal diet or basal diet containing 2% CA for 4 weeks coupled with PH performed at the end of the second week. This regimen was followed by 20 weeks of feeding basal diet to both groups. Rats given CA developed larger hepatic foci and nodules (0.84 +/- 0.56 mm3) compared to the control group, which was fed basal diet throughout the experiment (0.07 +/- 0.03 mm3). Further, both AD diet and dietary CA, like dietary OA, induced an increase in hepatic uridine nucleotides. Taken together, these results suggest that increased levels of endogenously synthesized OA, like exogenously supplied excess OA, can induce an imbalance in hepatic nucleotide pools and can exert a promoting effect on hepatocarcinogenesis.
Perturbations in DNA and/or membranes are considered to be important for the carcinogenic process. A search for nutritional and metabolic means of disturbing the homeostasis of DNA and membranes revealed that nucleotide pools offer an exciting possibility. An imbalance in nucleotide pools can exert a two-pronged attack on both DNA and membranes. When given to rats, orotic acid, a precursor of pyrimidine nucleotides, results in an imbalance in nucleotide pools (an increase in uridine nucleotides and a decrease in inosine/ adenine nucleotides), alterations in both DNA and membranes, and promotion of carcinogenesis in the liver initiated by chemical carcinogens. Agents such as adenine and allopurinol, which inhibit the metabolism of orotic acid and thereby decrease the formation of uridine nucleotides, and galactosamine, which traps uridine nucleotides, inhibited the promotional effects of orotic acid in the liver. These results suggested that orotic acid needs to be metabolized to uridine nucleotides and the creation of a subsequent imbalance in nucleotide pools is important for the promotional effects oforoticacid. To determine whether the creation ofa nucleotide pool imbalance is a more general mechanism of tumor-promotion, two lines of approach were investigated. One was to determine the effect of orotic acid on promotion of carcinogenesis in other organs, and the second approach was to determine how to induce nucleotide pool imbalances by means other than orotic acid administration. It is interesting to note that orotic acid promotes carcinogenesis in duodenum initiated by azoxymethane. Regarding the second approach, it became apparent that several metabolic disturbances result in increased orotic acid synthesis and alterations in nucleotide pools. For example, increased administration of amino acids, ammonia, certain disturbances in urea cycle enzymes and/or metabolites, and certain types of liver dysfunction result in increased synthesis of orotic acid. Similarly, folic acid deficiency also results in increased levels of deoxyuridine nucleotide levels. INTRODUCTIONOne approach to understanding carcinogenesis is to identify those metabolic pathways which, when disturbed, influence the carcinogenic process. Perturbations in DNA and/or membranes are often considered important for the carcinogenic process. During our search for metabolic and nutritional means ofdisturbing homeostasis ofDNA and membranes, we realized that nucleotide pools offered an exciting possibility, because these pools can exert a
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