Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ostojic, Sergej M., M.D., Ph.D
• Ostojic, Jelena, Ph.D
• Drid, Patrik, Ph.D
• Vranes, Milan, Ph.D
• Jovanov, Pavle, Ph.D

Titel

Dietary guanidinoacetic acid increases brain creatine levels in healthy men

Ist Teil von

• Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.), 2017-01, Vol.33, p.149-156

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract Objective Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) is an experimental dietary additive that might act as a creatine source in tissues with high-energy requirements. This case study evaluated brain levels of creatine in white matter, grey matter, cerebellum and thalamus during 8-week oral GAA administration in five healthy men ( n = 5), and monitored the prevalence and severity of side effects of the intervention. Methods Volunteers were supplemented with 36 mg/kg of body weight per day of GAA for the first 4 weeks of the intervention; afterwards GAA dosage was titrated up to 60 mg of GAA per kg of body weight per day. At baseline, 4 and 8 weeks, the participants completed brain magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), clinical chemistry studies and open-ended questionnaire for side effects prevalence and severity. Results Brain creatine levels increased in similar fashion in cerebellum, and white and gray matter after GAA supplementation, with an initial increase of 10.7% reported after 4 weeks of the intervention, and additional upsurge (7.7%) from 4-week to 8-week follow-up ( P < 0.05). Thalamus creatine levels decreased after 4 weeks for 6.5% ( P = 0.02), and increased non-significantly after 8 weeks for 8% ( P = 0.09). GAA induced an increase in N -acetyl aspartate levels at 8-week follow-up in all brain areas evaluated ( P < 0.05). No participants reported any neurological adverse event (e.g. seizures, tingling, convulsions) during the intervention. Conclusions Supplemental GAA led to a region-dependent increase of the creatine pool in the human brain. This might be relevant for restoring cellular bioenergetics in disorders characterized by low brain creatine and functional enzymatic machinery for creatine synthesis, including neurodegenerative diseases, brain tumors or cerebrovascular disease.