Arginine salts are hydrolyzed in the stomach to arginine and the salt (malate, alpha ketoglutarate etc.)
Nitric oxide can be made by different isoforms of NOS (nitric oxide synthase). The NOS enzymes can also make the free radical superoxide as well which will combine with NO to form peroxynitrates. These are nasty free radicals. So when you take arginine, I would be less concerned about whether it is the malate etc and make sure I had enough antioxidants and folate to keep the peroxynitrates from forming.
On AAKG…
L-Arginine supplementation (and citrulline) is well-known to up-regulate the urea cycle. It is what we call an “allosteric acivator” of the first biochemical step involved in the urea cycle - the reaction that forms carbamoyl phosphate. L-arginine serves its purpose as a stimulator of a reaction that converts glutamate to N-acetylglutamate. N-acetylglutamate then plugs right into the reaction that makes carbamoyl phosphate, as a cofactor - sending the urea cycle into overdrive. THIS IS A BAD THING FOR MUSCLE!!! So, how do we prevent it??? Here’s how…
Find a way to divert your body AWAY from making too much glutamate. In comes AKG. Ramping up AKG levels in the body (if you take 4 grams of arginine a day, then you’re getting 2 grams of AKG with it - that’s a fairly respectable amount!) will favor amino acid synthesis, rather than accelerate the urea cycle. AKG, inside muscle, tends to reverse the reaction that leads to the production of glutamate. While, in the liver, extra AKG likely inhibits the liberation of ammonia groups from glutamate for excretion in the urea cycle.
So, combining Arginine with AKG channels the Arginine more into NO and amino acid synthesis than the catabolism of amino acids (urea cycle).
Taking AKG is a smart move during states of rapid amino acid breakdown(like, during physical acitivity), because it may slow catabolism. But, it may not do much when one is not active. Same for Arginine. That’s why it is recommended to take the supplement shortly before exercising.
That’s my take on it… although it’s a tough thing to wrap one’s mind around…
This is what was posted on the ISSA Forum about NO2
With regard to NO2 consider the following. Nitric Oxide is produced in the endothelium of arterioles. After production, nitric oxide promotes smooth muscle relaxation in the arteriole, which results in vasodilation and an increase in blood flow. Current speculation is that muscular contraction results in increased production of nitric oxide, which promotes vasodilation in arterioles leading to working muscles. Blood vessels transport oxygen and nutrients to muscles and carry waste products away for muscular growth, repair and recovery. The products that claim to increase NO2 are simply the amino acids are not proven on a cellular level.
With reagrd to l-arginine, consider the following. L-arginine is the body’s chief source for creating Nitric Oxide. Therefore it would be wise to include l-arginine rather than non proven NO2 supplements.
L-arginine also has other benefits. Obesity is characterized by increased levels of insulin (high glycemic foods and drinks) and by subnormal growth hormone (GH) release. Insulin promotes fat and carbohydrate storage while GH stimulates lipolysis (fat-burning). The insulin/growth hormone ratio is significantly higher in obese humans than in lean humans. The combination of high insulin and low GH exacerbates the obese condition. L-arginine is the main oral agent responsible for restoration of GH in humans, and administration of 8 to 12 grams of free form L-arginine taken at bedtime on an empty stomach 30 minutes prior to Delta sleep reinstates normal GH levels.
Would AAKG combined with l-ornithine have any synergist function? Or would you suggest l-ornithine only to be taken with l-arginine, or is the combination meningful at all?
Unless they are a complete fraud one of the guys who started this company (Ed Byrd) was co-Founder of EAS, which more or less mass marketed Creatine with “Phosphagen” back in 1993 or so. MRI is a Company which can be trusted at the level that EAS was trusted before it was sold by Bill Phillips. (in my opinion)
(sadly Bill Phillips had the audacity to say his physique was the result of supplements only, he turned out to be a fraud; though his supplements worked, his physique in previous years was the same as it was when he started talking pictures of himself and his brother and saying that their incredible physiques were the result of training and supplements. The truth is that they were built like that all along)
Ok…so you mentioned EAS and Bill Phillips. How about the other 20 major companies out there? The company I am sponsored by makes an AWESOME Nitric Oxide supplement among other top quality supplements. I worked for a supplement distributor for 4 years and if i had to, I could only mention a few low quality supplement companies. These days there are only a few manufacturers who bottle their stuff for any number of companies. Different bottles, exact same product inside.
Depends what your looking for and where you live. Each company has its plus’s for creatine glutamine I just use webbers from costco but for ZMA and powerdrive i stick to snac or biotest
Personally, I have used AAKG in combination with creating and I found it was awsome. I pushed my bench press up by 12% during my last 6 week max strength cycle. It seems to work better for me than simply creatine alone. My next cycle I am using the Arginine/Methionine to compare.
hi! Let me present myself, I am new on this forum and I am coming from Europe, Slovenia. I am a student of pharmacy and very involvec in track and field, especially in the nutrition field. I give advices to many athletes.
Let me tell you my opinion about A-AKG:
I have done some experiments in the latest time and have come to conclusion, that A-AKG mixed with creatine (i tried the malat and ethyl ester form), betain, glutamine is one of the best options for an athlete for recovery. The chemistry behind was explained in the previous posts, I will just add some short facts: the transformation of L-arginine to L-citruline releses NO. which is an important message transmitter in our body, it acts also as an free radical in bigger concentration. the release of NO stimulates the trasformation of gvanozin mono phosphate to gvanozin tri phosphate. The reaction is an important stimulation of many biochemical reactions that follows. One of those is vasodilation, but this occurs only in the presence of acetly holine as an neurotransmitter, not in the presence of adrenaline. The vasodilation as I saw was described some post before.
Many athletes that was given the above mentioned combination observed a very good regeneration after weight lifting training and after sprint training. Usually they very much stifer after these sessions, but in the case of using my formula the muscle sorness dissapears faster. It is not a problem of feeling to much pump after training, because sprinters do not make so much reps with lifts as bilders does. The transport of nutrients is great and the recovery becomes faster. Usually I advise to take it before training and maybe one the hard days also after training sessions.