Isolation and characterisation of renal metabolites of gamma-glutamylfelinylglycine in the urine of the domestic cat (Felis catus).

The renal metabolism of the tripeptide, gamma-glutamylfelinylglycine, which our group recently identified in the blood of domestic cats (Felis catus), was investigated. To test our hypothesis that this unique tripeptide is metabolised by the kidney in a similar manner to glutathione-S-conjugates in other animal species, [(35)S]cysteine was administered intraperitoneally to an entire male cat, and urine collected at 1, 4 and 8 h post-injection. Radiolabelled fractions were isolated from the urine following reversed-phase (RP) HPLC. Four [(35)S]radiolabelled fractions were identified and characterised by amino acid analysis, mass spectrometry and comparison of retention times with synthetic compounds (felinine, N-acetyl felinine, felinylglycine, gamma-glutamylfelinylglycine). In addition to the previously described presence of free felinine, we showed the presence of several felinine-containing metabolites, including N-acetyl felinine, felinylglycine and unaltered gamma-glutamylfelinylglycine in cat urine. The results show that renal metabolism of gamma-glutamylfelinylglycine in cats, generally occurs in a similar manner to glutathione S-conjugates in other animal species, although the detection of felinylglycine indicates that subtle differences may exist. Additionally, our research indicates that previously reported estimates of felinine excretion in male cats need to be increased by as much as 54% to account for other felinine containing metabolites in the urine.