Arginine is found in all protein foods and is very abundant in seeds and nuts. It is considered a semi-essential amino acid during early development, infection/inflammation, or renal and/or intestinal impairment.
It has many functions in the body including:
- ammonia disposal in the urea cycle
- immune function
- stimulation of insulin release
- muscle metabolism (creatine/creatinine precursor)
- nitric oxide (NO) formation
- glutamic acid and proline formation
- glucose/glycogen conversion
- stimulation of the release of growth hormone, vasopressin, and prolactin
- wound healing Because arginine is a precursor for nitric oxide synthesis, it is often used therapeutically in cardiovascular disease for its vasodilatory effects.
References:
- Morris SM, Jr. Arginine Metabolism Revisited. J Nutr. 2016;146(12):2579s-2586s.
- Patel JJ, Miller KR, Rosenthal C, Rosenthal MD. When Is It Appropriate to Use Arginine in Critical Illness? Nutr Clin Pract. 2016;31(4):438-444.
- Linden KC, Wadley GD, Garnham AP, McConell GK. Effect of l-arginine infusion on glucose disposal during exercise in humans. Med Sci Sports Exercise. 2011;43(9):1626-1634.
- Bronte V, Zanovello P. Regulation of immune responses by L-arginine metabolism. Nat Rev Immunol. 2005;5(8):641-654.
- Bologna K, Cesana-Nigro N, Refardt J, et al. Effect of Arginine on the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis in Individuals With and Without Vasopressin Deficiency. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2020;105(7).
- Abe K, Matsuura N, Fujita H, et al. Prolactin response to arginine in children with hyperthyroidism and primary hypothyroidism. Eur J Ped. 1982;139(2):118-120.
- Boger RH. The pharmacodynamics of L-arginine. Alt Ther Health Med. 2014;20(3):48-54.
- Rouge C, Des Robert C, Robins A, et al. Manipulation of citrulline availability in humans. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2007;293(5):G1061-1067.
- Thibault R, Flet L, Vavasseur F, et al. Oral citrulline does not affect whole body protein metabolism in healthy human volunteers: results of a prospective, randomized, doubleblind, cross-over study. Clin Nutr. 2011;30(6):807-811.
- Vural H, Sirin B, Yilmaz N, Eren I, Delibas N. The role of arginine-nitric oxide pathway in patients with Alzheimer disease. Biol Trace Element Res. 2009;129(1-3):58-64.
- Sarban S, Isikan UE, Kocabey Y, Kocyigit A. Relationship between synovial fluid and plasma manganese, arginase, and nitric oxide in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Biol Trace Element Res. 2007;115(2):97-106.
- Kang-Yoon SA, Kirksey A. Relation of short-term pyridoxineHCl supplementation to plasma vitamin B-6 vitamers and amino acid concentrations in young women. Am J Clin Nutr. 1992;55(4):865-872.
- van Waardenburg DA, de Betue CT, Luiking YC, Engel M, Deutz NE. Plasma arginine and citrulline concentrations in critically ill children: strong relation with inflammation. Am J Clin Nutr. 2007;86(5):1438-1444.
- Romero MJ, Platt DH, Tawfik HE, et al. Diabetes-induced coronary vascular dysfunction involves increased arginase activity. Circ Res. 2008;102(1):95-102.
- Morris SM, Jr. Arginases and arginine deficiency syndromes. Current Op Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2012;15(1):64-70.
A low protein diet, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and increased amino acid utilization in acute phases of critical illness can all contribute to deficient arginine. However, some chronic conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, are characterized by an increase in the enzyme arginase, which can subsequently result in plasma arginine deficiency. Clinically, arginine deficiency has been shown to contribute to increased susceptibility to infection, pulmonary hypertension, atherosclerosis, and impaired anti-tumor response.
Understand and improve your laboratory results with our health dashboard.
Upload your lab reports and get your interpretation today.
Our technology helps to understand, combine, track, organize, and act on your medical lab test results.
A diet high in arginine, or exogenous supplementation with arginine or citrulline can elevate arginine levels. Levels might also be elevated in manganese (Mn) insufficiency since Mn is a necessary cofactor in the conversion of arginine to ornithine (and urea) in the urea cycle. Lastly, there is some literature to suggest that vitamin B6 supplementation alters plasma amino acids resulting in increased arginine.
Interpret Your Lab Results
Upload your lab report, and we'll interpret and provide you with recommendations today.
Get Started
Monthly plan
Annual plan
Own it for life
Our exclusive data entry service is a convenient way to get your results into your private dashboard. Simply attach an image or a file of your lab test results, and one of our qualified data entry team members will add the results for you. We support all sorts of files, whether PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is excellent whether you have a lot of reports to upload or are too busy to do the data entry yourself.
We strive to make the data entry process easy for you. Whether by offering dozens of templates to choose from that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels or by giving you instant feedback on the entered values. Our data entry forms are an easy, fast, and convenient way to enter the reports yourself. There is no limit on how many lab reports you can upload.
$15 /month
billed every month
Most popular
Data entry included
$79 /year
$6.60/month billed annually
Data entry included
$250 /once
own it for life
Are You a Health Professional?
Get started with our professional plan
Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.
Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place. Learn more
Pro Monthly Plus
for health professionals
$75 per month
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
1-Methylhistidine, 3-Methylhistidine, Alanine, Alpha Aminoadipic Acid, Alpha Aminobutyric Acid, Arginine, Asparagine, Aspartic Acid, Beta Aminoisobutyric Acid, Beta-Alanine, Citrulline, Cystathionine, Ethanolamine, Gamma Aminobutyric Acid, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Glycine, Gycine, Histidine, Homocystine, Hydroxyproline, Plasma, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Ornithine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Sarcosine, Serine, Taurine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Tyrosine, Valine
