Oxidative Deamination
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Oxidative Deamination
- Oxidative deamination is the release of ammonium via a conversion of glutamate to alpha-ketoglutarate.
- Glutamate dehydrogenase converts glutamate to alpha-ketoglutarate (which is the original acceptor amino acid found in the transamination reaction).
- Water provides the oxygen and the hydrogen necessary to oxidize alpha-ketoglutarate and protonate ammonia to ammonium (the non-toxic form of the molecule).
- We show ammonia in its charged state (as ammonium) because this is how it typically exists at physiologic pH (rather than as uncharged ammonia).