What Is N-Carbamyl-L-glutamate (NCG, )? Applications, Dosage, Alternatives & Specifications

NCG (N-Carbamyl-L-glutamic Acid), with CAS number 1188–38–1, molecular formula C6H10N2O5, and molecular weight 190.15, is a structural analog of N-acetylglutamic acid (NAG) and a novel functional amino acid metabolism regulator. The core mechanism of NCG is to activate carbamoyl phosphate synthetase-I (CPS-I) , bypassing the rate-limiting step in the arginine catabolic pathway and endogenously promoting arginine synthesis. This mechanism gives NCG unique application value in promoting animal growth, improving reproductive performance, enhancing immunity, and alleviating stress. In animals, arginine is a conditionally essential amino acid, crucial for the growth and development of young animals. However, exogenous arginine supplementation is costly and easily degraded by intestinal arginase. NCG achieves efficient physiological functions at low inclusion levels by activating the endogenous arginine synthesis pathway, and is widely used in piglet creep feed, sow feed, aquaculture feed, and ruminant feed.

The physiological functions of NCG are realized through the core pathway of "NCG → activates CPS-I → promotes endogenous arginine synthesis" :

Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase-I (CPS-I) is a key enzyme in the urea cycle, with N-acetylglutamate (NAG) as its natural activator. However, NAG is easily hydrolyzed by deacetylase in vivo, resulting in poor stability. NCG, as a structural analog of NAG, is not easily deacetylated in vivo and can continuously and efficiently activate CPS-I. Activated CPS-I catalyzes the formation of carbamoyl phosphate, which then synthesizes citrulline and arginine through the urea cycle, ultimately promoting the production of nitric oxide (NO) and polyamines.