Protein-bound amide groups in brain

Abstract

The amount of ammonia that can be liberated from protein from cerebral cortex by acid hydrolysis is significantly lower in brain from rats killed during picrotoxin-induced convulsions than from rats killed during pentobarbital narcosis. Protein from normal animals gave intermediate values. No differences were found in amounts of aspartic and glutamic acids or their amides released by hydrolysis by the protease from Streptomyces griseus. The protein-bound amides appear to turn over less rapidly than the dicarboxylic acids.