Effect of ornithine alpha ketoglutarate (OAKG) on the response of brain metabolism to hypoxia in the dog.

Abstract

Hypoxia is well known to cause an increase in brain anaerobic glycolysis. Ornithine alpha ketoglutarate (OAKG) given to six dogs was shown to attenuate these metabolic disturbances caused by hypoxia. Brain oxygen utilization was higher after ornithine alpha ketoglutarate during hypoxia than during a period of hypoxia alone. It is suggested that the clinical usefulness of OAKG should be explored in those situations where there is cerebral hypoxia or ischemia.

Controlled trial of ornithine alpha ketoglutarate (OAKG) in patients with stroke.

“…Kobayashi 6 suggests that the metabolic changes following ischemia could be due to ammonia detoxification, protein degradation, changes in amino acid transport or to changes in the intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle. These and other studies 8 suggest that change induced by ischemia may be reversed by ornithine alpha ketoglutarate.…”

“…This is now known to be incorrect. 8 Since brain glucose consumption falls and oxygen rises after or-nithine alpha ketoglutarate it is likely that the ketoglutarate can pass the blood brain barrier and is utilized. 4 Kobayashi and colleagues 6 have shown experimentally that after cerebral ischemia there is a marked decrease in the concentration of glutarate in the brain.…”

Alpha-Ketoglutarate dietary supplementation to improve health in humans

“…The use of ornithine AKG (O-AKG) (1 g/kg infused intravenously) in mongrel dogs increased brain oxygen utilization and glucose utilization while reducing metabolic disturbances caused by hypoxia [62]. Similar results were obtained in patients with stroke.…”

“…intravenous infusion of O-AKG within 96 hours of stroke, patients showed greater improvement in consciousness and neurological impairment scores compared to placebo [63]. The mechanism how AKG improves brain oxygenation is linked to the post-cerebral ischemic decrease in glutamate concentration, protein degradation, and change in amino acid transporters [62,64], which affects functional activity in the brain [64]. The fact that AKG replenishes protein synthesis and maintains glutamate concentration, and increases oxygen utilization in the brain would support this hypothesis [40,62,63].…”

Synthesis of organotin polymers from 2-ketoglutaric acid and their ability to inhibit the growth of human cancer cell lines

“…Molecular oxygen oxidizes many biological compounds producing important compounds including antibiotics in reactions catalyzed by oxygenases. Along with oxygen, 2-ketoglutarate is required for the hydroxylation of proline to hydroxyproline in the synthesis of Type 1 collagen [3,4].…”