Amino acid deficiency behind side effects of anti-malarial drug quinine.Byline: ANI Washington, June 27 (ANI): University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a leading research and teaching university in the city of Nottingham, in the East Midlands of England. It is a member of the Russell Group, and of Universitas 21, an international network of research-led universities. researchers say that the anti-malarial drug quinine quinine (kwī`nīn', kwĭnēn`), white crystalline alkaloid with a bitter taste. Before the development of more effective synthetic drugs such as quinacrine, chloroquine, and primaquine, quinine was the specific agent in the treatment of has the potential to block a cell's ability to take up the essential amino acid essential amino acid n. An alpha-amino acid that is required for protein synthesis but cannot be synthesized by humans and must be obtained in the diet. tryptophan tryptophan (trĭp`təfăn), organic compound, one of the 20 amino acids commonly found in animal proteins. Only the l-stereoisomer appears in mammalian protein. , and this could explain many of the adverse side-effects associated with the drug. The findings could mean that dietary tryptophan supplements could be a simple and inexpensive way to improve the performance of this important drug. Quinine is a very commonly used anti-malarial drug, but, to date, the principal mode of quinine action against the malaria parasite has remained largely unclear. The researchers don't even have the idea of why the drug causes adverse reactions like nausea, headaches, and blurred vision. Thus, Simon Avery and colleagues at the university took advantage of yeast genetics, and examined the effects of quinine on a collection of 6000 yeast mutants, each one lacking exactly one of the yeast's 6000 genes. It was found that yeast strains unable to make tryptophan were extremely susceptible to quinine poisoning, which led them to identify a tryptophan transporter as a key quinine target. The above discovery supports the evidence that quinine reactions are more severe in malnourished mal·nour·ished adj. Affected by improper nutrition or an insufficient diet. individuals. If quinine severely reduces tryptophan uptake, then it means that people with preexisting pre·ex·ist or pre-ex·ist v. pre·ex·ist·ed, pre·ex·ist·ing, pre·ex·ists v.tr. To exist before (something); precede: Dinosaurs preexisted humans. v.intr. tryptophan deficiencies would be especially at risk to this drug. The authors also noted that tryptophan is important as a precursor for the brain chemical serotonin, so the enhanced tryptophan deficiency induced by quinine could explain why many of quinine's side effects are localized to the head region. They also found that simply taking dietary tryptophan supplements in conjunction with quinine treatments could avert the side effects. (ANI) Copyright 2009 Asian News International The Asian News International (ANI) agency provides multimedia news to China and 50 bureaus in India. It covers virtually all of South Asia since its foundation and presently claims, on its official website, to be the leading South Asia-wide news agency. (ANI) - All Rights Reserved. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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