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Article: Urinary organic acid analysis: a powerful clinical tool.
- Article from:
- Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients
- Article date:
- October 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Townsend Letter Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Organic acids, also called carboxylic acids, comprise key intermediary compounds of many biochemical pathways as well as exogenous compounds. The tricarboxylic acid, TCA cycle (also called the citric acid cycle or Krebs cycle) in the mitochondrion, for example, comprised of nine organic acids and eight enzymes, is the central metabolic pathway for all fuel molecules; dietary carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Deficiencies in any of the TCA cycle enzymes causes an inefficient cycling of the organic acid intermediates; any number of which consequently increase in concentration in the urine of the affected individual. Metabolic defects such as these are commonly known as ...