Enzymatic oxidation of L-homocysteine

Homocyst(e)ine, a normal metabolite, accumulates in certain inborn errors of sulfur amino acid metabolism. Since many amino acids are converted by enzymatic oxidation and by transamination to the corresponding alpha-keto acid analogs and related products, which may exert inhibitory effects on metabolism, and because the alpha-keto acid analog of homocysteine has not yet been prepared, the enzymatic oxidation of homocysteine was investigated with the aim of obtaining alpha-keto-gamma-mercaptobutyric acid. Oxidation of DL-homocysteine by L-amino acid oxidase led to formation of at least seven products that react with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine; of these, five were identified: alpha-keto-gamma-mercaptobutyrate, the mono and diketo analogs of homolanthionine, and the mono and diketo analogs of homocystine. In addition, one product was tentatively identified as alpha-ketomercaptobutyric acid gamma-thiolactone. In the course of this work alpha-keto-gamma-mercaptobutyrate was found to be a substrate of lactate dehydrogenase. L-Homocysteine and its alpha-keto acid analog were shown to be substrates of glutamate dehydrogenase and kidney glutamine transaminase. DL-Homocysteine reacts readily with alpha-keto acids to form stable hemithioketals, which were found to be substrates of L- and D-amino acid oxidases. A scheme is presented which integrates some of the complexities involved in the oxidation metabolism of homocyst(e)ine. The significance of these findings is considered in relation to the toxicity of homocysteine, which accumulates in certain pathological states.