Asparagine is a non-essential protein amino acid that is present in many fruits and vegetables including asparagus, from which it gets its name.
Other dietary sources include meat, potatoes, eggs, nuts, and dairy. It can also be formed from aspartic acid and glutamine using the enzyme asparagine synthetase.
In addition to being a structural component of many proteins, asparagine is also useful to the urea cycle. It acts as a nontoxic carrier of residual ammonia to be eliminated from the body.
Asparagine is rapidly converted to aspartic acid by the enzyme asparaginase.
Interestingly, L-asparaginase has been successfully used as a chemotherapeutic agent for decades. It causes extracellular depletion of asparagine which seems to play a critical role in cellular adaptations to glutamine and apoptosis.
Overall low amino acids from poor dietary intake or GI malabsorption/maldigestion may result in low levels of arginine. Low levels of its precursors (aspartic acid and glutamine), or enzymatic dysfunction in arginine synthetase can also result in low asparagine levels. Upregulation of asparaginase may contribute to lower levels of asparagine and rarely can be associated with hyperammonemia.
Depleted levels of arginine due to genetic mutations in asparagine synthetase are associated with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Understand and improve your laboratory results with our health dashboard.
Upload your lab reports and get interpretation today.
Our technology helps to understand, combine, track, organize, and act on your medical lab test results.
High dietary protein intake can elevate asparagine levels. Asparagine may also be elevated in hyperammonemia to serve as a reservoir for waste nitrogen.
Interpret Your Lab Results
Upload your lab report and we’ll interpret and provide you with recomendations today.
Get StartedGet Started With Our Personal Plan
Advanced Plan
Unlimited Plan
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 Plan
for health professionals
$45 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, a-Amino-N-butyric Acid, a-Aminoadipic Acid, Alanine, Arginine, Asparagine, Aspartic Acid, b-Alanine, b-Aminoisobutyric Acid, Citrulline, Cyst(e)ine, Cystathionine, Ethanolamine, g-Aminobutyric Acid, Glutamic Acid, Glutamine, Glycine, Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Ornithine, Phenylalanine, Phosphoethanolamine, Phosphoserine, Proline, Sarcosine, Serine, Taurine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Tyrosine, Urea, Valine