112 



THE AMINO ACIDS 



With aspartic acid only three of the carbon atoms 

 are available for dextrose formation, the remaining 

 carbon atom being changed to carbon dioxide in ac- 

 cordance with the following reactions : 



COOH 



I 

 CH a 



CHNH a 



COOH 



Aspartic acid 



+ H a O = 2 



COOH 



CH a 



CH 3 OH 



2CO a 

 /3 lactic acid 



= C 6 H 6 6 



Dextrose 



As with aspartic acid so also with glutamic acid only 

 three of the carbon atoms are changed to dextrose, the 

 two remaining carbon atoms being liberated in the 

 form of acetic acid. 



COOH 



i 

 CH a 



2 I 

 CH a 



CHNH a 



COOH 



Glutamic acid 



4 H a O 



COOH 



I 

 CH 3 



CH 3 OH 



2 CHOH 

 I 

 COOH 



Acetic acid and 

 Glyceric acid 



= C fl H 6 6 



Dextrose 



Dakin has demonstrated that serine, proline, orni- 

 thine and arginine are all capable of yielding large 

 amounts of sugar when given to glycosuric dogs. 



