Metabolism of d- and l-Methionine

Abstract

Previous investigation of the physiological role of methionine in the animal organism led the writers to conclude that “methionine, like cystine, is capable of unmistakably stimulating growth in albino rats subsisting on a basal diet poor in cystine.1, 2 It was pointed out2 that this observation immediately raised various questions relative to the intermediary metabolism of methionine. Referring to one of these problems, we stated: “It is obvious, of course, that, since the addition of methionine (dl) to the diet of animals subsisting on the regimen previously described leads to growth stimulation, the study of the physiological behavior of …. the separate optically active forms of methionine becomes important. ”These compounds have been investigated with the following results.Methionine was synthesized and resolved according to the methods of Windus and Marvel.3, 4d-Methionine as well as the naturally occurring l-methionine stimulates growth in the rat ingesting our cystine-methionine deficient diet, (cf...