Metabolische Veränderungen bei cerebralen Erkrankungen unter Einfluss therapeutischer Maßnahmen.

Abstract

The liver synthesizes a lot of essential substances and works as a detoxification organ by biotransforming toxic compounds, like ammonia. Ammonia is mainly produced by the metabolism of proteins and amino acids. Considering the numerous hepatic functions, chronic and acute liver failure can lead to metabolic disorders. The toxic Ammonia cannot be degraded any longer by the urea cycle and causes high concentrations in blood. This is called hyperammonaemia (HA) and leads to hepatic encephalopathy (HE), which is a neuropsychiatric disorder. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of L-carnitine (L-C) on primary brain cell cultures under HA conditions. The results showed that, for example, the glutamine-glutamate-cycle, which plays an important role for the ammonia detoxification, was altered under hyperammonamic conditions. L-C normalises the alterations of the metabolic pathways and the syntheses of their metabolites under HA/HE. Thus, L-C as a potential therapeutic agent is of high interest in the context of acute and chronic HE. Further research is necessary to clarify the procedures of the mechanisms of L-C precisely.