Kynurenic acid (KYNA or KYN) is a product of the normal metabolism of amino acid -

tryptophan Tryptophan (symbol Trp or W) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Tryptophan contains an α-amino group, an α-carboxylic acid group, and a side chain indole, making it a polar molecule with a non-polar aromat ...

. It has been shown that kynurenic acid possesses neuroactive activity. It acts as an antiexcitotoxic and

anticonvulsant Anticonvulsants (also known as antiepileptic drugs, antiseizure drugs, or anti-seizure medications (ASM)) are a diverse group of pharmacological agents used in the treatment of epileptic seizures. Anticonvulsants are also used in the treatme ...

, most likely through acting as an antagonist at excitatory amino acid receptors. Because of this activity, it may influence important neurophysiological and neuropathological processes. As a result, kynurenic acid has been considered for use in therapy in certain neurobiological disorders. Conversely, increased levels of kynurenic acid have also been linked to certain pathological conditions. Kynurenic acid was discovered in 1853 by the German chemist

Justus von Liebig Justus ''Freiherr'' von Liebig (12 May 1803 – 18 April 1873) was a Germans, German scientist who made major contributions to the theory, practice, and pedagogy of chemistry, as well as to agricultural and biology, biological chemistry; he is ...

dog urine Urination is the release of urine from the bladder through the urethra in placental mammals, or through the cloaca in other vertebrates. It is the urinary system's form of excretion. It is also known medically as micturition, voiding, uresi ...

, which it was apparently named after.Liebig, J., Uber Kynurensäure, ''Justus Liebigs Ann. Chem.'', 86: 125-126, 1853. It is formed from -

kynurenine -Kynurenine is a metabolite of the amino acid -tryptophan used in the production of niacin. Kynurenine is synthesized by the enzyme tryptophan dioxygenase, which is made primarily but not exclusively in the liver, and indoleamine 2,3-dioxygena ...

in a reaction catalyzed by the enzyme

kynurenine—oxoglutarate transaminase In enzymology, a kynurenine-oxoglutarate transaminase () is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction :-kynurenine + 2-oxoglutarate 4-(2-aminophenyl)-2,4-dioxobutanoate + -glutamate Thus, the two substrates of this enzyme are -kynurenin ...

Mechanism of action

KYNA has been proposed to act on five targets: * As an antagonist at ionotropic

AMPA α-Amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid, better known as AMPA, is a compound that is a specific agonist for the AMPA receptor, where it mimics the effects of the neurotransmitter glutamate Glutamic acid (symbol Glu or E; kn ...

NMDA ''N''-methyl--aspartic acid, or ''N''-methyl--aspartate (NMDA), is an amino acid derivative that acts as a specific agonist at the NMDA receptor mimicking the action of glutamate, the neurotransmitter which normally acts at that receptor. Unl ...

and

Kainate Kainic acid, or kainate, is an acid that naturally occurs in some seaweed. Kainic acid is a potent neuroexcitatory amino acid agonist that acts by activating receptors for glutamate, the principal excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervo ...

glutamate receptors Glutamate receptors are synaptic and non synaptic receptors located primarily on the membranes of neuronal and glial cells. Glutamate (the conjugate base of glutamic acid) is abundant in the human body, but particularly in the nervous system an ...

in the concentration range of 0.1-2.5 mM. * As a noncompetitive antagonist at the glycine site of the

NMDA receptor The ''N''-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (also known as the NMDA receptor or NMDAR), is a glutamate receptor and predominantly Ca2+ ion channel found in neurons. The NMDA receptor is one of three types of ionotropic glutamate receptors, the other ...

. * As an antagonist of the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. However, recently (2011) direct recording of α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor currents in adult (noncultured) hippocampal interneurons by th
Cooper laboratory
validated a 2009 study that failed to find any blocking effect of kynurenic acid across a wide range of concentrations, thus suggesting that in noncultured, intact preparations from adult animals there is no effect of kynurenic acid on α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor currents. * As a ligand for the orphan

G protein-coupled receptor G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), also known as seven-(pass)-transmembrane domain receptors, 7TM receptors, heptahelical receptors, serpentine receptors, and G protein-linked receptors (GPLR), form a large group of evolutionarily related ...

GPR35 G protein-coupled receptor 35 also known as GPR35 is a G protein-coupled receptor which in humans is encoded by the ''GPR35'' gene. Heightened expression of GPR35 is found in immune and gastrointestinal tissues, including the crypts of Lieberküh ...

. * As an agonist for the

HCAR3.

Role in disease

High levels of kynurenic acid have been identified in patients with

tick-borne encephalitis Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a virus, viral infectious disease involving the central nervous system. The disease most often manifests as meningitis, encephalitis or meningoencephalitis. Myelitis and spinal paralysis also occur. In about one ...

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

and

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

-related illnesses. In all these situations, increased levels were associated with confusion and psychotic symptoms. Kynurenic acid acts in the

brain The brain is an organ (biology), organ that serves as the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals. It consists of nervous tissue and is typically located in the head (cephalization), usually near organs for ...

as a

glycine Glycine (symbol Gly or G; ) is an amino acid that has a single hydrogen atom as its side chain. It is the simplest stable amino acid. Glycine is one of the proteinogenic amino acids. It is encoded by all the codons starting with GG (G ...

-site

NMDAr The ''N''-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (also known as the NMDA receptor or NMDAR), is a glutamate receptor and predominantly Ca2+ ion channel found in neurons. The NMDA receptor is one of three types of ionotropic glutamate receptors, the othe ...

antagonist, key in glutamatergic neurotransmission system, which is thought to be involved in the

pathophysiology Pathophysiology (or physiopathology) is a branch of study, at the intersection of pathology and physiology, concerning disordered physiological processes that cause, result from, or are otherwise associated with a disease or injury. Pathology is ...

and

pathogenesis In pathology, pathogenesis is the process by which a disease or disorder develops. It can include factors which contribute not only to the onset of the disease or disorder, but also to its progression and maintenance. The word comes . Descript ...

of schizophrenia. The kynurenic acid hypothesis of schizophrenia was proposed in 2007, based on its action on midbrain dopamine activity and NMDArs, thus linking

dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia The dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia or the dopamine hypothesis of psychosis is a model that attributes the positive symptoms of schizophrenia to a disturbed and hyperactive dopaminergic signal transduction. The model draws evidence from the ...

with the glutamate hypothesis of the disease. Kynurenic acid is reduced in individuals with mood disorders, such as

major depressive disorder Major depressive disorder (MDD), also known as clinical depression, is a mental disorder characterized by at least two weeks of pervasive depression (mood), low mood, low self-esteem, and anhedonia, loss of interest or pleasure in normally ...

and

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

, especially during depressive episodes. High levels of kynurenic acid have been identified in human urine in certain metabolic disorders, such as marked

pyridoxine deficiency Vitamin B6 is one of the B vitamins, and is an essential nutrient for humans. The term essential nutrient refers to a group of six chemically similar compounds, i.e., "vitamers", which can be interconverted in biological systems. Its active f ...

and deficiency/absence of

kynureninase Kynureninase or L-Kynurenine hydrolase (KYNU) () is a PLP dependent enzyme that catalyses the cleavage of kynurenine (Kyn) into anthranilic acid (Ant). It can also act on 3-hydroxykynurenine (to produce 3-hydroxyanthranilate) and some other (3 ...

. When researchers decreased the levels of kynurenic acid in the brains of mice, their cognition was shown to improve markedly. However, kynurenic acid also shows neuroprotective properties. Some researchers have posited that the increased levels found in cases of neurological degradation is due to a failed attempt to protect the cells. Elevated levels of kynurenic acid compared to kynurenine appear to be associated with poorer

T cell T cells (also known as T lymphocytes) are an important part of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on their cell ...

response and higher mortality in male subjects with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, suggesting an explanation for the poorer clinical outcomes observed in males than in females.

Link to ketogenic diet

One controlled study kept mice on a

ketogenic diet The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, low-carbohydrate dietary therapy that in conventional medicine is used mainly to treat hard-to-control (refractory) epilepsy in children. The diet forces the body to b ...

and measured kynurenic acid concentrations in different parts of the brain. It found that the mice on the ketogenic diet had greater kynurenic acid concentrations in the

striatum The striatum (: striata) or corpus striatum is a cluster of interconnected nuclei that make up the largest structure of the subcortical basal ganglia. The striatum is a critical component of the motor and reward systems; receives glutamat ...

and

hippocampus The hippocampus (: hippocampi; via Latin from Ancient Greek, Greek , 'seahorse'), also hippocampus proper, is a major component of the brain of humans and many other vertebrates. In the human brain the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus, and the ...

compared to mice on a normal diet, with no significant difference in the cortex. In response to the studies showing detrimental behaviour following increases in kynurenic acid the authors also note that the diet was generally well tolerated by the animals, with no "gross behavioural abnormalities". They posit that the increases in concentrations found were insufficient to produce behavioural changes seen in those studies.

References

External links

Link found between TBE and schizophrenia
- TheLocal.se, Sweden's news in English, 6 November 2007. {{Navboxes , title =

Biological activity In pharmacology, biological activity or pharmacological activity describes the beneficial or adverse effects of a drug on living matter. When a drug is a complex chemical mixture, this activity is exerted by the substance's active ingredient or ...

, titlestyle = background:#ccccff , list1 = {{Glutamate metabolism and transport modulators {{Ionotropic glutamate receptor modulators {{Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor modulators Aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitors AMPA receptor antagonists Aromatic acids Hydroxy acids Kainate receptor antagonists Nicotinic antagonists NMDA receptor antagonists Quinolinols

Mechanism of action

Role in disease

Link to ketogenic diet

See also

References

External links