Grant: Operating Grant

Creatine, in the form of creatine monohydrate, is well known to the public since it is used by athletes to increase muscle strength. However, we also synthesize creatine and obtain it from our food. We now know that the synthesis of creatine plays a crucial role in neonatal development, since infants who cannot synthesize this compound because of genetic defects, suffer from serious neurological symptoms. We propose to employ piglets, as a model system for human infants, to discover how neonatal animals synthesize creatine as well as how this process is controlled.