ArticleClinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland)2021
Plasma citrulline correlates with basolateral amino acid transporter LAT4 expression in human small intestine.
Article in Clinical nutrition (Edinburgh, Scotland), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 13 citations in OpenAlex.
- Potential role of L-citrulline in regulating exercise performance and muscle protein metabolism.NPJ science of food · 2026Review
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- Surgical Treatment of Short Bowel Syndrome-The Past, the Present and the Future, a Descriptive Review of the Literature.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Gut microbiota contributes to the methionine metabolism in host.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Citrulline, Biomarker of Enterocyte Functional Mass and Dietary Supplement. Metabolism, Transport, and Current Evidence for Clinical Use.Nutrients · 2021Review
- Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Plasma from Children with Short Bowel Syndrome.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND &
aimsPlasma citrulline, a non-protein amino acid, is a biochemical marker of small intestine enterocyte mass in humans. Indeed, citrulline is highly correlated with residual bowel length in patients with short bowel syndrome. It is known to be synthesised in epithelial cells of the small intestine from other amino acids (precursors). Citrulline is then released into systemic circulation and interconverted into arginine in kidneys. If plasma citrulline concentration depends on abundance of intestinal amino acid transporters is not known. The aim of the present study was to explore whether plasma citrulline concentration correlates with the expression of intestinal amino acid transporters. Furthermore, we assessed if arginine in urine correlates with plasma citrulline.
methodsDuodenal samples, blood plasma and urine were collected from 43 subjects undergoing routine gastroduodenoscopy. mRNA expression of seven basolateral membrane amino acid transporters/transporter subunits were assessed by real-time PCR. Plasma and urine amino acid concentrations of citrulline, its precursors and other amino acids were analysed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography measurements. Amino acid transporter mRNA expression was correlated with blood plasma and urine levels of citrulline and its precursors using Spearman's rank correlation. Likewise, urine arginine was correlated with plasma citrulline.
resultsPlasma citrulline correlated with the mRNA expression of basolateral amino acid transporter LAT4 (Spearman's r = 0.467, p = 0.028) in small intestine. None of the other basolateral membrane transporters/transporter subunits assessed correlated with plasma citrulline. Plasma citrulline correlated with urinary arginine, (Spearman's r = 0.419, p = 0.017), but not with urinary citrulline or other proteinogenic amino acids in the urine.
conclusionsIn this study, we showed for the first time that small intestinal basolateral LAT4 expression correlates with plasma citrulline concentration. This finding indicates that LAT4 has an important function in mediating citrulline efflux from enterocytes. Furthermore, urine arginine correlated with plasma citrulline, indicating arginine in the urine as possible additional marker for small intestine enterocyte mass. Finally, basolateral LAT4 expression along the human small intestine was shown for the first time.
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