Characterization of the Kynurenine pathway and quinolinic acid production in macaque macrophages

Chai K. Lim, Margaret M C Yap, Stephen J. Kent, Gabriel Gras, Boubekeur Samah, Jane C. Batten, Robert De Rose, Benjamin Heng, Bruce J. Brew, Gilles J. Guillemin*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    22 Citations (Scopus)
    60 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    The kynurenine pathway (KP) and one of its end-products, the excitotoxin quinolinic acid (QUIN), are involved in the pathogenesis of several major neuroinflammatory brain diseases. A relevant animal model to study KP metabolism is now needed to assess whether intervention in this pathway may improve the outcome of such diseases. Humans and macaques share a very similar genetic makeup. In this study, we characterized the KP metabolism in macaque primary macrophages of three different species in comparison to human cells. We found that the KP profiles in simian macrophages were very similar to those in humans when challenged with inflammatory cytokines. Further, we found that macaque macrophages are capable of producing a pathophysiological concentration of QUIN. Our data validate the simian model as a relevant model to study the human cellular KP metabolism in the context of inflammation.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)7-19
    Number of pages13
    JournalInternational Journal of Tryptophan Research
    Volume6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2013

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright the Author(s), publisher and licensee Libertas Academica Ltd. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

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