Identification of beta-aminoisobutyric acid in uremic serum.

An unidentified ninhydrin-positive substance found in uremic sera but not found in normal sera was isolated by gel-filtration through Sephadex G-75 followed by high voltage paper electrophoresis (pH 3.5), and identified as beta-aminoisobutyric acid using paper chromatography and automated amino acid analyzer. The quantitative determination of beta-aminoisobutyric acid in serum revealed that the level of beta-aminoisobutyric acid in uremic sera was much higher than that of normal sera. Gas chromatographic determination of the enantiomorphs of beta-aminoisobutyric acid showed that uremic sera contain R- and S-isomers of the amino acid, but with the R-isomer as the dominating form.