Glutaric aciduria is a disorder of lysine, tryptophan, and hydroxylysine metabolism characterized by intermittent metabolic acidemia, dystonia, athetosis and mental retardation. It is due to a recessively inherited deficiency of glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase, the enzyme(s) which catalyze the dehydrogenation of glutaryl-CoA to glutaconyl-CoA and decarboxylation of the latter to crotonyl-CoA. Abnormal quantities of glutaric, β-hydroxyglutaric, and glutaconic acids are found in the urine of these patients.

The nature of the movement disorder prompted study of the effects of the abnormally excreted metabolites on brain glutamate decarboxylase, an enzyme implicated in the pathogenesis of Huntington's chorea. Glutamate decarboxylase activity was examined in rat and rabbit brain acetone powders, stabilized with pyridoxal phosphate and glutathione. Glutarate, β-hydroxyglutarate, and glutaconate were competitive inhibitors of this enzyme, K_i values being 1.3 × 10⁻³ mol/1, 2.5 × 10⁻³ mol/1, and 7.5 × 10⁻⁴ mol/1, respectively. This inhibition may explain the neurological accompaniments of this syndrome.