Amino acid composition of human liver mitochondrial membranes in normal and pathological conditions.

The amino acid composition of proteins from liver mitochondrial membranes has been studied in patients with normal liver, with biliary diseases and fatty liver, with obstructive jaundice or liver cirrhosis. A characteristic pattern of the amino acid composition in patients with normal liver has been found. In the mitochondrial membranes of patients with fatty liver tryptophan and lysine were decreased while [aspartic acid plus asparagine] and [glutamic acid plus glutamine] were increased compared to their counterpart in the normal liver. In patients with obstructive jaundice of short duration (less than two months) only a slight decrease in methionine content was found, while in the case of liver cirrhosis amino acid composition was markedly changed.