Methionine is a sulfur bearing essential amino acid. Together with cysteine, methionine is one of two sulfur-containing proteinogenic amino acids. Importantly, Methionine is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of cysteine, carnitine, taurine, lecithin, phosphatidylcholine, and other phospholipids.
Methionine assists in the breakdown of fats and thereby prevents the build-up of fat in the arteries, as well as assisting with the digestive system and removing heavy metals from the body since it can be converted to cysteine, which is a precursor to gluthione, which is of prime importance in detoxifying the liver. It is a great antioxidant as the sulfur it supplies inactivates free radicals.
It is also one of the three amino acids needed by the body to manufacture creatine monohydrate, a compound essential for energy production and muscle building.
Produced Clinical Studies
L-Methionine
Methionine-induced positive inotropic effect in rat heart: possible role of phospholipid N-methylation
V Panagia, MP Gupta, PK Ganguly and NS Dhalla
Division of Cardiovascular Sciences, St. Boniface General Hospital Research Centre, Winnipeg, Canada.
Perfusion of isolated rat heart with L-methionine produced a positive inotropic effect that was temporally preceded, as well as accompanied, by an increase of methyl group incorporation into N-methylated phospholipids of the myocardium. Maximal increase in contractile force development was associated with maximal methyl group incorporation. Both parameters showed a dose-related dependence on methionine and correlated positively (r = 0.965) upon regression analysis of the data. The presence of adenosine, L-homocysteine thiolactone and erythro-9-(2- hydroxy-3-nonyl) adenine in the perfusion medium inhibited the positive inotropic effect as well as the incorporation of methyl groups into phospholipids. Cycloleucine, an inhibitor of S-adenosylmethionine synthetase, also reduced the increase in contractility by methionine. Methionine-induced positive inotropic effect could be modulated by varying Ca2+ concentration in the perfusate and was inhibited by ryanodine, a blocker of sarcoplasmic reticular Ca2+ release. These observations indicate that L-methionine may serve as a powerful positive inotropic agent and suggest that phospholipid N-methylation plays an important role in functional activity of rat heart.