Abstract
Little work has been done to identify the chemical nature of Florey's I Factor which inhibits the stretch receptor discharge, since the compound was originally defined by Florey (1) in 1954.
The Factor I turns out to be several compounds, GABA3 and β-alanine (2), which are present in the central nervous system (3, 4), β-hydroxy GABA (5), GGBA (6) found in mammal brain (7) and BGPA (6). More several related compounds were found as natural constituents in central nervous system, GABA-Ch (8), carnosin (9) and homocarnosin (10).
Physiological role of all compounds under consideration is not yet known. Postsynaptic structures possess an enzyme system capable of inactivating the released transmitter and the neurons must contain an enzyme system of synthesizing the compound. The transaminase might be one of such enzyme system participated.
A rapid incorporation of 14C-α-ketoglutarate into the glutamate pool was noted in experiments with rat brain homogenates (11).
This work concerns the transaminase activity of the compounds having Florey's I Factor and physiological unknown substances present in central nervous system, and the effect produced by administration of some drugs on the enzyme activity.
