Effect of propionic acid on fatty acid oxidation and ureagenesis.

Propionic acid significantly inhibited 14CO2 production from [1-14C] palmitate at a concentration of 10 muM in control fibroblasts and 100 muM in methylmalonic fibroblasts. This inhibition was similar to that produced by 4-pentenoic acid. Methylmalonic acid also inhibited 14CO2 production from [1-14C] palmitate, but only at a concentration of 1 mM in control cells and 5 mM in methylmalonic cells. Propionic acid (5 mM) also inhibited ureagenesis in rat liver slices when ammonia was the substrate but not with aspartate and citrulline as substrates. Propionic acid had no direct effect on either carbamyl phosphate synthetase or ornithine transcarbamylase. These findings may explain the fatty degeneration of the liver and the hyperammonemia in propionic and methylmalonic acidemia.