Citrin/mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase double knock-out mice recapitulate features of human citrin deficiency.

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Saheki T, Iijima M, Li MX, Kobayashi K, Horiuchi M, Ushikai M, Okumura F, Meng XJ, Inoue I, Tajima A, Moriyama M, Eto K, Kadowaki T, Sinasac DS, Tsui LC, Tsuji M, Okano A, Kobayashi T

Citrin/mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase double knock-out mice recapitulate features of human citrin deficiency.

J Biol Chem. 2007 Aug 24;282(34):25041-52. Epub 2007 Jun 25.

PubMed ID

17591776 [ View in PubMed

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Abstract

Citrin is the liver-type mitochondrial aspartate-glutamate carrier that participates in urea, protein, and nucleotide biosynthetic pathways by supplying aspartate from mitochondria to the cytosol. Citrin also plays a role in transporting cytosolic NADH reducing equivalents into mitochondria as a component of the malate-aspartate shuttle. In humans, loss-of-function mutations in the SLC25A13 gene encoding citrin cause both adult-onset type II citrullinemia and neonatal intrahepatic cholestasis, collectively referred to as human citrin deficiency. Citrin knock-out mice fail to display features of human citrin deficiency. Based on the hypothesis that an enhanced glycerol phosphate shuttle activity may be compensating for the loss of citrin function in the mouse, we have generated mice with a combined disruption of the genes for citrin and mitochondrial glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase. The resulting double knock-out mice demonstrated citrullinemia, hyperammonemia that was further elevated by oral sucrose administration, hypoglycemia, and a fatty liver, all features of human citrin deficiency. An increased hepatic lactate/pyruvate ratio in the double knock-out mice compared with controls was also further elevated by the oral sucrose administration, suggesting that an altered cytosolic NADH/NAD(+) ratio is closely associated with the hyperammonemia observed. Microarray analyses identified over 100 genes that were differentially expressed in the double knock-out mice compared with wild-type controls, revealing genes potentially involved in compensatory or downstream effects of the combined mutations. Together, our data indicate that the more severe phenotype present in the citrin/mitochondrial glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase double knock-out mice represents a more accurate model of human citrin deficiency than citrin knock-out mice.

DrugBank Data that Cites this Article

Drug Targets

Drug	Target	Kind	Organism	Pharmacological Action	Actions
Aspartic acid	Calcium-binding mitochondrial carrier protein Aralar2	Protein	Humans	Unknown	Not Available	Details