Tryptophan Metabolism During the Menstrual Cycle

Brien, Sarah; Martin, Camille S.; Bonner, Adrian

doi:10.1076/brhm.28.4.391.13120

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…It is known to play a role in blood vessel dilatation during inflammatory events [ 26 ]. The elevated levels of kynurenine during menses found in our study are thus consistent with these roles and with past studies showing varying levels of kynurenine in serum and urine through the cycle [ 27 , 28 ]. In our vaginal samples, isoleucine, a branched-chain amino acid with important metabolic functions [ 29 ], was found with the highest levels in the luteal phase and lowest during menses.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Sub-communities of the vaginal microbiota in pregnant and non-pregnant women

Symul,

Jeganathan,

Costello

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Diverse and non- Lactobacillus -dominated vaginal microbial communities are associated with adverse health outcomes such as preterm birth and the acquisition of sexually transmitted infections. Despite the importance of recognizing and understanding the key risk-associated features of these communities, their heterogeneous structure and properties remain ill-defined. Clustering approaches are commonly used to characterize vaginal communities, but they lack sensitivity and robustness in resolving substructures and revealing transitions between potential sub-communities. Here, we address this need with an approach based on mixed membership topic models. Using longitudinal data from cohorts of pregnant and non-pregnant study participants, we show that topic models more accurately describe sample composition, longitudinal changes, and better predict the loss of Lactobacillus dominance. We identify several non- Lactobacillus -dominated sub-communities common to both cohorts and independent of reproductive status. In non-pregnant individuals, we find that the menstrual cycle modulates transitions between and within sub-communities, as well as the concentrations of half of the cytokines and 18% of metabolites. Overall, our analyses based on mixed membership models reveal substructures of vaginal ecosystems which may have important clinical and biological associations.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Sub-communities of the vaginal microbiota in pregnant and non-pregnant women

Symul,

Jeganathan,

Costello

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…Kynurenine is a tryptophan catabolite via a pathway involving IDO1-mediated degradation and is known to play a role in blood vessel dilatation during inflammatory events (33). The elevated levels of kynurenine during menses found in our study are thus consistent with these roles and with past studies showing varying levels in kynurenine serum and urinary levels through the cycle (34, 35). Isoleucine is a branched-chain amino acid, and as such, plays important metabolic functions (36).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 93%

Sub-communities of the vaginal microbiota in pregnant and non-pregnant women

Symul

Jeganathan

Costello

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Diverse and non-Lactobacillus-dominated vaginal microbial communities are associated with adverse health outcomes such as preterm birth and acquisition of sexually transmitted infections. Despite the importance of recognizing and understanding the key risk-associated features of these communities, their heterogeneous structure and properties remain ill-defined. Clustering approaches have been commonly used to characterize vaginal communities, but they lack sensitivity and robustness in resolving community substructures and revealing transitions between potential sub-communities. We used a more highly resolved approach based on mixed membership topic models with multi-domain longitudinal data from cohorts of pregnant and non-pregnant subjects to identify several non-Lactobacillus-dominated sub-communities common to women regardless of reproductive status. These sub-communities correlated with clusters of metabolites. In non-pregnant subjects, we identified a few sub-communities that were more common during menses but did not predict an increased likelihood of non-Lactobacillus-dominated communities during the rest of the menstrual cycle. The menstrual cycle was a strong driver of transitions between sub-communities and was correlated with changes in levels of cytokines, for example, elevated TNF-α concentrations at the time of ovulation, and metabolites, for example, elevated kynurenine concentrations during menses. In pregnant women, some metabolite clusters were predictive of changes in vaginal microbiota structure. Overall, our results show that the vaginal community substructure is shaped by the menstrual cycle and that specific sets of metabolites are associated with community instability during pregnancy.

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“…Although it is well known that various metabolites of tryptophan are secreted in mammalian urine (28), their functions have not been reported. In humans, tryptophan metabolism is controlled under the hormonal dynamics of the menstrual cycle (29). In teleosts, dietary L-tryptophan accelerates the final maturation in females (30).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

l -Kynurenine, an amino acid identified as a sex pheromone in the urine of ovulated female masu salmon

Yambe

Kudoh

Kamio

et al. 2006

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

127

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Many animals employ sex pheromones to find mating partners during their reproductive seasons. However, most sex pheromones of vertebrates remain to be identified. Over the past 20 years, steroids and prostaglandins have been identified as sex pheromones in several fishes. These pheromones are broadly termed “hormonal pheromones” because they or their precursors act as hormones in these fishes. Hitherto, no other type of sex pheromone has been unambiguously identified in teleost fish. Here we report the identification of a “nonhormonal pheromone” in teleost fish. The urine of the reproductively mature female masu salmon ( Oncorhynchus masou ) contains a male-attracting pheromone. Bioassay-guided fractionation yielded an active compound that was identical to l -kynurenine in spectral and chromatographic properties. l -Kynurenine is a major metabolite of l -tryptophan in vertebrates. This pheromone elicits a male-specific behavior at even picomolar concentrations; its electrophysiological threshold is 10 −14 M. l -Kynurenine is a reasonable substance for female masu salmon to advertise their readiness for mating.

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Tryptophan Metabolism During the Menstrual Cycle

Cited by 6 publications

References 0 publications

Sub-communities of the vaginal microbiota in pregnant and non-pregnant women

Sub-communities of the vaginal microbiota in pregnant and non-pregnant women

Sub-communities of the vaginal microbiota in pregnant and non-pregnant women

l -Kynurenine, an amino acid identified as a sex pheromone in the urine of ovulated female masu salmon

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