Elucidation of the mechanism producing menaquinone-4 in osteoblastic cells

Yoshitomo Suhara, Akimori Wada, Toshio Okano

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Vitamin K is an essential nutrient and a cofactor for the carboxylation of specific glutamyl residues of proteins to γ-glutamyl residues, which activates osteocalcin related to bone formation. Among vitamin K homologues, menaquinone-4 (MK-4) is the most active biologically, up-regulating the gene expression of bone markers, and thus has been clinically used in the treatment of osteoporosis in Japan. Recently, we confirmed that MK-4 was converted from dietary phylloquinone (PK), and then accumulated in various tissues at high concentrations. This system should play an important role in biological functions including bone formation, however, the pathway by which MK-4 is converted remains unclear. In this study, we studied the mechanism of MK-4's conversion with chemical techniques using deuterated analogues.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1054-1057
Number of pages4
JournalBioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters
Volume19
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009 Feb 15
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Geranylgeranylpyrophosphate
  • Mechanism
  • Menaquinone-4
  • Mevalonate pathway
  • Osteoblastic cells
  • Vitamin K

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Medicine
  • Molecular Biology
  • Pharmaceutical Science
  • Drug Discovery
  • Clinical Biochemistry
  • Organic Chemistry

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