RESEARCH ARTICLE Pharmacologic rescue of hyperammonemia- induced toxicity in zebrafish by inhibition of ornithine aminotransferase Matthias Zielonka1,2*, Maximilian Breuer1, JuÈrgen GuÈnther Okun1, Matthias Carl3,4, Georg Friedrich Hoffmann1, Stefan KoÈ lker1 1 University Hospital Heidelberg, Center for Child and Adolescent Medicine, Division for Pediatric Neurology and Metabolic Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany, 2 Heidelberg Research Center for Molecular Medicine (HRCMM), Heidelberg, Germany, 3 Heidelberg University, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Department of Cell a1111111111 and Molecular Biology, Mannheim, Germany, 4 University of Trento, Center for Integrative Biology (CIBIO), a1111111111 Laboratory of Translational Neurogenetics, Trento, Italy a1111111111 a1111111111 *
[email protected] a1111111111 Abstract Hyperammonemia is the common biochemical hallmark of urea cycle disorders, activating OPEN ACCESS neurotoxic pathways. If untreated, affected individuals have a high risk of irreversible brain Citation: Zielonka M, Breuer M, Okun JG, Carl M, damage and mortality. Here we show that acute hyperammonemia strongly enhances trans- Hoffmann GF, KoÈlker S (2018) Pharmacologic amination-dependent formation of osmolytic glutamine and excitatory glutamate, thereby rescue of hyperammonemia-induced toxicity in zebrafish by inhibition of ornithine inducing neurotoxicity and death in ammoniotelic zebrafish larvae via synergistically acting aminotransferase. PLoS ONE 13(9): e0203707. overactivation of NMDA receptors and bioenergetic