The relationship between the free pool of proline and collagen content in human liver cirrhosis

David Kershenobich; Francisco J. Fierro; Marcos Rojkind

doi:10.1172/JCI106443

Departamento de Gastroenterología, Patología y Bioquímica, Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición, México 7, D. F.

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Departamento de Gastroenterología, Patología y Bioquímica, Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición, México 7, D. F.

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Departamento de Gastroenterología, Patología y Bioquímica, Instituto Nacional de la Nutrición, México 7, D. F.

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Published in Volume 49, Issue 12 on December 1, 1970
J Clin Invest. 1970;49(12):2246–2249. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI106443.
© 1970 The American Society for Clinical Investigation

Published December 1, 1970 - Version history

The free proline, free glutamic acid, and total collagen contents of the livers of cirrhotic and noncirrhotic patients were determined. The amounts of free proline in the sera of the patients were also determined. The results indicated that certain metabolic changes occurred in cirrhotic livers of humans that were similar to the metabolic changes observed previously in CCl₄-induced cirrhosis in the rat. The amount of free proline was coordinate with the increase in total collagen, and both were inversely related to the amount of free glutamic acid. The average proline concentration in sera of cirrhotic patients was not higher than that of non cirrhotic patients, suggesting that the metabolic alteration noted above is a local event in the liver related to fibrogenesis. These and other results suggest that the pool size of free proline may play a prime role in regulation of collagen biosynthesis in liver cirrhosis.

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