Formaldehyde is known to react with nucleophilic amino acids in solution but its in vivo nonenzymatic reactivity is poorly understood. Here LC/MS and isotopic labeling studies suggest nonenzymatic formaldehyde metabolism may occur in living mice through the direct reactivity of formaldehyde with amino acids, including a possible role of timonacic, a product of formaldehyde and cysteine, as a reservoir.
- Matthias Pietzke
- Guillermo Burgos-Barragan
- Alexei Vazquez
