Amino acids and hemoglobin production in anemia

Abstract

Certain individual amino acids when given to standard anemic dogs cause an increase in new hemoglobin production. Occasional negative experiments are recorded. Glycine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, cystine, histidine, phenylalanine, and proline when given in 1 gin. doses daily for 2 weeks, increase hemoglobin output on the average 23 to 25 gin. above the control level. This reaction amounts to 25 to 30 per cent of the new hemoglobin produced by the feeding of 300 gin. liver daily for 2 weeks--a standard liver test. Alanine, valine, isoleucine, and arginine in the same dosage increase the hemoglobin output on the average 13 to 17 gin. per 2 weeks over the control level. Leucine, methionine, lysine, tryptophane, and tyrosine fall in a middle group with hemoglobin output of about 20 gin. Isovaleric acid, /-hydroxybutyric acid, glutaric acid, and asparagine have shown positive effects and the butyrate is unusually potent for hemoglobin production (Table 2). The isomeric and dl- synthetic forms of the amino acids are as effectively utilized in this reaction as are the natural forms. © 1940, Rockefeller University Press., All rights reserved.