Heme arginate is a compound of heme

Heme

A heme or haem is a prosthetic group that consists of an iron atom contained in the center of a large heterocyclic organic ring called a porphyrin. Not all porphyrins contain iron, but a substantial fraction of porphyrin-containing metalloproteins have heme as their prosthetic group; these are...

 and arginine

Arginine

Arginine is an α-amino acid. The L-form is one of the 20 most common natural amino acids. At the level of molecular genetics, in the structure of the messenger ribonucleic acid mRNA, CGU, CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, and AGG, are the triplets of nucleotide bases or codons that codify for arginine during...

 used in the treatment of acute porphyrias. This heme product is only available outside the United States, where the equivalent is hematin.

Heme arginate is a heme compound, whereby L-arginine is added to prevent rapid degradation. It is given intravenously, and its action of mechanism is to reduce the overproduction of δ-aminolevulinic acid, which can cause the acute symptoms in an attack of the acute porphyrias.

See also

• Acute intermittent porphyria
  Acute intermittent porphyria
  Acute intermittent porphyria is a rare autosomal dominant metabolic disorder affecting the production of heme, the oxygen-binding prosthetic group of hemoglobin. It is characterized by a deficiency of the enzyme porphobilinogen deaminase. Acute intermittent porphyria is the second most common...
  
  
• Aminolevulinic acid
• Inborn error of metabolism
  Inborn error of metabolism
  Inborn errors of metabolism comprise a large class of genetic diseases involving disorders of metabolism. The majority are due to defects of single genes that code for enzymes that facilitate conversion of various substances into others...
  
  
• www.drugs-porphyria.com
• www.porphyria-europe.com