Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I deficiency

Description

Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I deficiency is an inherited disorder that causes ammonia to accumulate in the blood (hyperammonemia). Ammonia, which is formed when proteins are broken down in the body, is toxic if the levels become too high. The brain is especially sensitive to the effects of excess ammonia.

In the first few days of life, infants with carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I deficiency typically exhibit the effects of hyperammonemia, which may include unusual sleepiness, poorly regulated breathing rate or body temperature, unwillingness to feed, vomiting after feeding, unusual body movements, seizures, or coma. Affected individuals who survive the newborn period may experience recurrence of these symptoms if diet is not carefully managed or if they experience infections or other stressors. They may also have delayed development and intellectual disability.

In some people with carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I deficiency, signs and symptoms may be less severe and appear later in life.

Frequency

Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I deficiency is a rare disorder; its overall incidence is unknown. Researchers in Japan have estimated that it occurs in 1 in 800,000 newborns in that country.

Causes

Mutations in the CPS1 gene cause carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I deficiency. The CPS1 gene provides instructions for making the enzyme carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I. This enzyme participates in the urea cycle, which is a sequence of biochemical reactions that occurs in liver cells. The urea cycle processes excess nitrogen, generated when protein is broken down by the body, to make a compound called urea that is excreted by the kidneys. The specific role of the carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I enzyme is to control the first step of the urea cycle, a reaction in which excess nitrogen compounds are incorporated into the cycle to be processed.

Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I deficiency belongs to a class of genetic diseases called urea cycle disorders. In this condition, the carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I enzyme is at low levels (deficient) or absent, and the urea cycle cannot proceed normally. As a result, nitrogen accumulates in the bloodstream in the form of toxic ammonia instead of being converted to less toxic urea and excreted. Ammonia is especially damaging to the brain, and excess ammonia causes neurological problems and other signs and symptoms of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I deficiency.

Inheritance

This condition is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern, which means both copies of the gene in each cell have mutations. The parents of an individual with an autosomal recessive condition each carry one copy of the mutated gene, but they typically do not show signs and symptoms of the condition.

Autosomal recessive inheritance. Credit: U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Other Names for This Condition

• Carbamoyl-phosphate synthase I deficiency disease
• Carbamyl-phosphate synthetase I deficiency disease
• Congenital hyperammonemia, type I

Where this page came from

This page was imported from MedlinePlus Genetics, National Library of Medicine. Courtesy of MedlinePlus from the National Library of Medicine; its genetics summaries and the illustrations credited to the library are in the public domain. Pictures credited to others are not copied.

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