User:Ibrahim.rumi26/Felinine

Felinine Variables
Felinine excretion is regulated by levels of testosterone, and so its concentration is dependent on the sex and age of the cat. For instance, cats with high levels of testosterone produce higher levels of 3-MBG. Consequently, non neutered males have significantly higher concentrations of felinine in their urine than females and neutered males. Furthermore, cauxin is a carboxylesterase enzyme which hydrolyzes 3-methylbutanol-cysteinylglycine (MBCG) into felinine. Thus, felinine is dependent upon cauxin, and cauxin is excreted most in male cats above the age of three months. Therefore, older cats, compared to young kittens, have higher concentrations of felinine.

Also, long hair cats have less cysteine to go around as the amino acid is also used for protein structures found in hair. Thus, long haired cats make less felinine than short haired cats.

The presence of urea in cat urine has been found to react with the felinine in the urine. After synthetic felinine was incubated in urea, none of it was recovered, suggesting a degradation or modification of felinine. However, evidence suggests that the interaction does not stem from a nucleophilic reaction.

It has been found that dietary supplementation with amino acids other than cysteine impact felinine excretion. This is most likely caused by the presence of arginine, which is believed to inhibits synthesis of MBG.