A urea cycle disorder is a genetic disorder caused by a mutation that results in a deficiency of one of the six enzymes in the urea cycle. These enzymes are responsible for removing ammonia from the blood stream. The urea cycle involves a series of biochemical steps in which nitrogen, a waste product of protein metabolism, is removed from the blood and converted to a compound called urea in the blood. Normally, the urea is transferred into the urine and removed from the body. In urea cycle disorders, the nitrogen accumulates in the form of ammonia, a highly toxic substance, resulting in hyperammonemia (elevated blood ammonia). Ammonia then reaches the brain through the blood, where it can cause irreversible brain damage, coma and/or death.
This disorder watches for 6 amino acids , but Urea cycle is a group of disorders, it’s not 1 disorder, so it depends on the disorder they have that falls into the group given below :
- NAGS – N-acetylglutamate synthase deficiency
- CPS1 – Carbamoyl Phosphate synthase deficiency
- OTC – Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency
- ASS – Citrullinemia or argininosuccinate synthase deficiency
- ASA/ASL – Argininosuccinic aciduria or Argininosuccinate lyase defciency
- Arginase – Arginase defciency
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