Arginine, one of the twenty amino acids, is a substrate for the synthesis of numerous biological compounds necessary for maintenance of physiological and metabolic homeostasis in the body. Because pregnancy is a period of increased maternal and fetal tissue deposition and increased nitric oxide synthesis has been shown to be a major contributor to the vascular expansion of pregnancy, an inadequate supply of dietary arginine and / or an endogenous production will potentially impair maternal and fetal protein synthesis, hence tissue deposition, thereby leading to a small for gestational age or low birth weight baby. We have previously reasoned that pregnant women with low body mass index will have slower endogenous arginine production rates in the fasted state, which may affect the growth of their baby. The same could be true for pregnant adolescent girls who have less lean body mass than adult women.
We propose to determine whether and why Indian women are producing less arginine than their Jamaican and American counterparts by conducting a comprehensive study of arginine metabolism in non-pregnant adult Indian, Jamaican and American women. We would measure the Arginine flux, de novo synthesis, release from protein breakdown and oxidation fed and fasted states in women with normal BMI during their mid-menstrual period.