Sodium phenylbutyrate

Overview

Sodium phenylbutyrate, sold under the brand name Buphenyl among others, is a salt of an aromatic fatty acid, 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA) or 4-phenylbutyric acid. The compound is used to treat urea cycle disorders, because its metabolites offer an alternative pathway to the urea cycle to allow excretion of excess nitrogen.[1][2][3] WP

Sodium phenylbutyrate is also a histone deacetylase inhibitor and chemical chaperone, leading respectively to research into its use as an anti-cancer agent and in protein misfolding diseases such as cystic fibrosis.[1] WP

Uses, dosage and effects

Medical uses

Sodium phenylbutyrate is taken orally or by nasogastric intubation as a tablet or powder, and tastes very salty and bitter. It treats urea cycle disorders, genetic diseases in which nitrogen waste builds up in the blood plasma as ammonia glutamine (a state called hyperammonemia) due to deficiences in the enzymes carbamoyl phosphate synthetase I, ornithine transcarbamylase, or argininosuccinic acid synthetase. Uncontrolled, this causes intellectual impairment and early death. Sodium phenylbutyrate metabolites allows the kidneys to excrete excess nitrogen in place of urea, and coupled with dialysis, amino acid supplements and a protein-restricted diet, children born with urea cycle disorders can usually survive beyond 12 months. Patients may need treatment for all their life. The treatment was introduced by researchers in the 1990s, and approved by the U.S. Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in April 1996.[2][4][5][6] WP

Risks and side effects

Adverse effects

Nearly 1/4 of women may experience an adverse effect of amenorrhea or menstrual dysfunction. Appetite loss is seen in 4% of patients. Body odor due to metabolization of phenylbutyrate affects 3% of patients, and 3% experience unpleasant tastes. Gastrointestinal symptoms and mostly mild indications of neurotoxicity are also seen in less than 2% of patients, among several other reported adverse effects. Administration during pregnancy is not recommended because sodium phenylbutyrate treatment could mimic maternal phenylketonuria due to the production of phenylalanine, potentially causing fetal brain damage.[2][4] WP

Pharmacology

Pharmacology

Phenylbutyrate is a prodrug. In the human body it is first converted to phenylbutyryl-CoA and then metabolized by mitochondrial beta-oxidation, mainly in the liver and kidneys, to the active form, phenylacetate. Phenylacetate conjugates with glutamine to phenylacetylglutamine, which is eliminated with the urine. It contains the same amount of nitrogen as urea, which makes it an alternative to urea for excreting nitrogen.[4][7] WP

Sodium phenylbutyrate taken by mouth can be detected in the blood within fifteen minutes, and reaches peak concentration in the bloodstream within an hour. It is metabolized into phenylacetate within half an hour.[4] WP

Research

Urea cycle disorders

Sodium phenylbutyrate administration was discovered to lead to an alternative nitrogen disposal pathway by Dr. Saul Brusilow, Mark Batshaw and colleagues at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the early 1980s, due to some serendipitous discoveries. They had studied ketoacid therapy for another inborn error of metabolism, citrullinemia, in the late 1970s and they noticed that arginine treatment led to an increase of nitrogen in the urine and a drop in ammonia in the blood. The researchers spoke to Norman Radin about this finding, and he remembered a 1914 article on using sodium benzoate to reduce urea excretion. Another 1919 article had used sodium phenylacetate, and so the researchers treated five patients with hyperammonemia with benzoate and phenylacetate and published a report in Science. In 1982 and 1984, the researchers published on using benzoate and arginine for urea cycle disorders in the NEJM. Use of sodium phenylbutyrate was introduced in the early 1990s, as it lacks the odor of phenylacetate.[2][8–12] WP

Chemical chaperone

In cystic fibrosis, a point mutation in the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator protein, ΔF508-CFTR, causes it to be unstable and misfold, hence trapped in the endoplasmic reticulum and unable to reach the cell membrane. This lack of CFTR in the cell membrane leads to disrupted chloride transport and the symptoms of cystic fibrosis. Sodium phenylbutyrate can act as a chemical chaperone, stabilising the mutant CFTR in the endoplasmic reticulum and allowing it to reach the cell surface.[13] WP

Histone deacetylase inhibitor

Deriving from its activity as a histone deacetylase inhibitor, sodium phenylbutyrate is under investigation for use as a potential differentiation-inducing agent in malignant glioma and acute myeloid leukaemia, and also for the treatment of some sickle-cell disorders as an alternative to hydroxycarbamide due to it inducing expression of fetal hemoglobin to replace missing adult hemoglobin. While small-scale investigation is proceeding, there is to date no published data to support the use of the compound in the clinical treatment of cancer, and it remains under limited investigation. Sodium phenylbutyrate is also being studied as a therapeutic option for the treatment of Huntington's disease.[1][14][15][16] WP

Sodium phenylbutyrate was under development for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. It reached phase 2 clinical trials for this indication. However, development was discontinued in 2015. Subsequently, sodium phenylbutyrate/ursodoxicoltaurine was developed for a variety of indications including treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Wolfram syndrome, Friedreich's ataxia, and progressive supranuclear palsy.[17][18] WP

Other

Phenylbutyrate has been associated with longer lifespans in Drosophila.[19] WP

University of Colorado researchers Curt Freed and Wenbo Zhou demonstrated that phenylbutyrate stops the progression of Parkinson's disease in mice by turning on a gene called DJ-1 that can protect dopaminergic neurons in the midbrain from dying. As of July 2011 they plan on testing phenylbutyrate for the treatment of Parkinson's disease in humans.[1] WP

Chemistry

Formula

C10H11NaO2 PC

CAS number

1716-12-7 PC

Molar mass (g/mol)

186.18 PC

IUPAC name (computed by PubChem)

sodium 4-phenylbutanoate PC

SMILES

C1=CC=C(C=C1)CCCC(=O)[O-].[Na+] PC

InChIKey

VPZRWNZGLKXFOE-UHFFFAOYSA-M PC

PubChem CID

5258

Harm reduction information

No harm reduction data is on file for this compound yet. That means no dose, timing or combination data from PsychonautWiki or TripSit. Please don't guess a dose from similar compounds. If you have taken it and feel unwell, contact emergency services or a poison control center.

User reports

Pop culture

No references added yet.

Sources

1. Journal / agency Iannitti T, Palmieri B. Clinical and experimental applications of sodium phenylbutyrate. Drugs in R&D. September 2011. doi:10.2165/11591280-000000000-00000 · PMID 21902286 · PMC3586072
2. Journal / agency Batshaw ML, MacArthur RB, Tuchman M. Alternative pathway therapy for urea cycle disorders: twenty years later. The Journal of Pediatrics. January 2001. doi:10.1067/mpd.2001.111836 · PMID 11148549
3. Journal / agency Walker V. Ammonia toxicity and its prevention in inherited defects of the urea cycle. Diabetes, Obesity & Metabolism. September 2009. doi:10.1111/j.1463-1326.2009.01054.x · PMID 19531057
4. Journal / agency Buphenyl- sodium phenylbutyrate tablet Buphenyl- sodium phenylbutyrate powder. 11 March 2020
5. Journal / agency Buphenyl: FDA-Approved Drugs
6. Journal / agency Buphenyl FDA approval package
7. Journal / agency Kormanik K, Kang H, Cuebas D, Vockley J, Mohsen AW. Evidence for involvement of medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase in the metabolism of phenylbutyrate. Molecular Genetics and Metabolism. December 2012. doi:10.1016/j.ymgme.2012.10.009 · PMID 23141465 · PMC3504130
8. Journal / agency Brusilow S, Tinker J, Batshaw ML. Amino acid acylation: a mechanism of nitrogen excretion in inborn errors of urea synthesis. Science. February 1980. doi:10.1126/science.6243418 · PMID 6243418
9. Journal / agency Batshaw ML, Brusilow S, Waber L, Blom W, Brubakk AM, Burton BK, Cann HM, Kerr D, Mamunes P, Matalon R, Myerberg D, Schafer IA. Treatment of inborn errors of urea synthesis: activation of alternative pathways of waste nitrogen synthesis and excretion. The New England Journal of Medicine. June 1982. doi:10.1056/nejm198206103062303 · PMID 7078580
10. Journal / agency Brusilow SW, Danney M, Waber LJ, Batshaw M, Burton B, Levitsky L, Roth K, McKeethren C, Ward J. Treatment of episodic hyperammonemia in children with inborn errors of urea synthesis. The New England Journal of Medicine. June 1984. doi:10.1056/nejm198406213102503 · PMID 6427608
11. Journal / agency Brusilow SW. Phenylacetylglutamine may replace urea as a vehicle for waste nitrogen excretion. Pediatric Research. February 1991. doi:10.1203/00006450-199102000-00009 · PMID 2014149
12. Journal / agency Tuchman M, Knopman DS, Shih VE. Episodic hyperammonemia in adult siblings with hyperornithinemia, hyperammonemia, and homocitrullinuria syndrome. Archives of Neurology. October 1990. doi:10.1001/archneur.1990.00530100104022 · PMID 2222247
13. Journal / agency Chanoux RA, Rubenstein RC. Molecular Chaperones as Targets to Circumvent the CFTR Defect in Cystic Fibrosis. Frontiers in Pharmacology. 17 July 2012. doi:10.3389/fphar.2012.00137 · PMID 22822398 · PMC3398409
14. Journal / agency Dover GJ, Brusilow S, Charache S. Induction of fetal hemoglobin production in subjects with sickle cell anemia by oral sodium phenylbutyrate. Blood. July 1994. doi:10.1182/blood.V84.1.339.339 · PMID 7517215
15. Journal / agency Trompeter S, Roberts I. Haemoglobin F modulation in childhood sickle cell disease. British Journal of Haematology. February 2009. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2141.2008.07482.x · PMID 19036119
16. Journal / agency Moumné L, Betuing S, Caboche J. Multiple Aspects of Gene Dysregulation in Huntington's Disease. Frontiers in Neurology. October 2013. doi:10.3389/fneur.2013.00127 · PMID 24167500 · PMC3806340
17. Journal / agency Sodium phenylbutyrate. 2 October 2021
18. Journal / agency Sodium phenylbutyrate/ursodoxicoltaurine. 26 March 2026
19. Journal / agency Kang HL, Benzer S, Min KT. Life extension in Drosophila by feeding a drug. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. January 2002. doi:10.1073/pnas.022631999 · PMID 11792861 · PMC117392

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