Chlorella is a green unicellular alga that is commercially produced and distributed worldwide as a dietary supplement. Chlorella products contain numerous nutrients and vitamins, including D and B12, that are absent in plant-derived food sources. Chlorella contains larger amounts of folate and iron than other plant-derived foods. Chlorella supplementation to mammals, including humans, has been reported to exhibit various pharmacological activities, including immunomodulatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, and antihyperlipidemic activities. Meta-analysis on the effects of Chlorella supplementation on cardiovascular risk factors have suggested that it improves total cholesterol levels, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and fasting blood glucose levels but not triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. These beneficial effects of Chlorella might be due to synergism between multiple nutrient and antioxidant compounds. However, information regarding the bioactive compounds in Chlorella is limited.
Porphyra sp. (nori) is widely cultivated as an important marine crop. Dried nori contains numerous nutrients, including vitamin B, which is the only vitamin absent from plant-derived food sources. Vegetarian diets are low in iron and vitamin B; depletion of both causes severe anemia. Nori also contains large amounts of iron compared with other plant-derived foods and eicosapentaenoic acid, which is an important fatty acid found in fish oils. In nori, there are also many bioactive compounds that exhibit various pharmacological activities, such as immunomodulation, anticancer, antihyperlipidemic, and antioxidative activities, indicating that consumption of nori is beneficial to human health. However, Porphyra sp. contains toxic metals (arsenic and cadmiun) and/or amphipod allergens, the levels of which vary significantly among nori products. Further evidence from human studies of such beneficial or adverse effects of nori consumption is required.
High homocysteine (Hcy) levels, mainly caused by vitamin B12 deficiency, have been reported to induce amyloid-β (Aβ) formation and tau hyperphosphorylation in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. However, the relationship between B12 deficiency and Aβ aggregation is poorly understood, as is the associated mechanism. In the current study, we used the transgenic C. elegans strain GMC101, which expresses human Aβ1–42 peptides in muscle cells, to investigate the effects of B12 deficiency on Aβ aggregation–associated paralysis. C. elegans GMC101 was grown on nematode growth medium with or without B12 supplementation or with 2-O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-L-ascorbic acid (AsA-2G) supplementation. The worms were age-synchronized by hypochlorite bleaching and incubated at 20 °C. After the worms reached the young adult stage, the temperature was increased to 25 °C to induce Aβ production. Worms lacking B12 supplementation exhibited paralysis faster and more severely than those that received it. Furthermore, supplementing B12-deficient growth medium with AsA-2G rescued the paralysis phenotype. However, AsA-2G had no effect on the aggregation of Aβ peptides. Our results indicated that B12 supplementation lowered Hcy levels and alleviated Aβ toxicity, suggesting that oxidative stress caused by elevated Hcy levels is an important factor in Aβ toxicity.
Food additives, such as hypochlorous acid water, sodium metabisulfite, and sodium sulfite, strongly affect the chemical and biological properties of vitamin B 12 (cyanocobalamin) in aqueous solution. When cyanocobalamin (10 μmol/L) was treated with these compounds, hypochlorous acid water (an effective chlorine concentration of 30 ppm) rapidly reacted with cyanocobalamin. The maximum absorptions at 361 and 550 nm completely disappeared by 1 h, and vitamin B 12 activity was lost. There were no significant changes observed in the absorption spectra of cyanocobalamin for 0.01% (w/v) sodium metabisulfite; however, a small amount of the reaction product was formed within 48 h, which was subsequently identified as sulfitocobalamin through high-performance liquid chromatography. Similar results were shown for sodium sulfite. The effects of these food additives on the vitamin B 12 content of red shrimp and beef meats were determined, revealing no significant difference in vitamin B 12 content of shrimp and beef meats with or without the treatment even in hypochlorous acid water. The results suggest that these food additives could not react with food vitamin B 12 in food, as most of this vitamin present in food is its protein-bound form rather than the free form.
Ascorbate (AsA) is required as a cofactor and is widely distributed in plants and animals. Recently, it has been suggested that the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans also synthesizes AsA. However, its biosynthetic pathway is still unknown. To further understand AsA biosynthesis in C. elegans, we analyzed the incorporation of the 13C atom into AsA using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in worms fed with D-Glc (1-13C)-labeled Escherichia coli. GC-MS analysis revealed that AsA biosynthesis in C. elegans, similarly to that in mammalian systems, involves carbon skeleton rearrangement. The addition of L-gulono-1,4-lactone, an AsA precursor in the mammalian pathway, significantly increased AsA level in C. elegans, whereas the addition of L-galactono-1,4-lactone, an AsA precursor in the plant and Euglena pathway, did not affect AsA level. The suppression of E03H4.3 (an ortholog of gluconolactonase) or the deficiency of F54D5.12 (an ortholog of L-gulono-1,4-lactone oxidase) significantly decreased AsA level in C. elegans. Although N2- and AsA-deficient F54D5.12 knockout mutant worm (tm6671) morphologies and the ratio of collagen to non-collagen protein did not show any significant differences, the mutant worms exhibited increased malondialdehyde levels and reduced lifespan compared with the N2 worms. In conclusion, our findings indicate that the AsA biosynthetic pathway is similar in C. elegans and mammals.
Vitamin B12 deficiency leads to various symptoms such as neuropathy, growth retardation, and infertility. Vitamin B12 functions as a coenzyme for two enzymes involved in amino acid metabolisms. However, there is limited information available on whether amino acid disorders caused by vitamin B12 deficiency induce such symptoms. First, free amino acid levels were determined in vitamin B12-deficient Caenorhabditis elegans to clarify the mechanisms underlying the symptoms caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. Various amino acids (valine, leucine, isoleucine, methionine, and cystathionine, among others) metabolized by vitamin B12-dependent enzymes were found to be significantly changed during conditions of B12 deficiency, which indirectly affected certain amino acids metabolized by vitamin B12-independent enzymes. For example, ornithine was significantly increased during vitamin B12 deficiency, which also significantly increased arginase activity. The accumulation of ornithine during vitamin B12 deficiency constitutes the first report. In addition, the biosynthesis of spermidine from ornithine was significantly decreased during vitamin B12 deficiency, likely due to the reduction of S-adenosylmethionine as a substrate for S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, which catalyzes the formation of spermidine. Moreover, vitamin B12 deficiency also demonstrated a significant reduction in worm lifespan, which was partially recovered by the addition of spermidine. Collectively, our findings suggest that decreased spermidine is one factor responsible for reduced lifespan in vitamin B12-deficient worms.
(1) Background: Currently, no data are available on the vitamin B12 content of an organic fertilizer product, viz. fermented poultry manure, or whether the organic fertilizer product contains vitamin B12 or inactive corrinoids (or both). (2) Methods: This study conducted a microbiological assay to determine the vitamin B12 content of various commercially available fermented poultry manure fertilizer products. (3) Results: The results varied from 1.4 μg to approximately 20 μg per 100 g of dry weight. In the bioautography analysis, selected products had two positive spots with identical Rf values of vitamin B12 and pseudovitamin B12. High-performance liquid chromatography and liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization−mass spectrometry analyses of the selected products indicated that these fertilizers primarily contained vitamin B12. They also contained minor inactive cobamides such as pseudovitamin B12, 2-methyladenyl cobamide, and 2-methylmercaptoadenyl cobamide. (4) Conclusions: These results suggested that edible plants would enrich vitamin B12 using fermented poultry manure organic fertilizer products.
BACKGROUND Vitamin B12 is an essential vitamin that is absent in plant‐derived foods such as fruits and vegetables. This can result in an increased risk of developing vitamin B12 deficiency in strict vegetarians (vegans). There are several studies that have aimed to enhance nutrients in food crops. The purpose of the present study was to fortify tomato fruits with vitamin B12 (or cyanocobalamin). RESULTS Tomato plants were grown for 70 days in hydroponic culture pots and treated with 5 μm of cyanocobalamin on days 1–24 after the fruiting, and then harvested for tomato fruits. The ripened tomato fruits contained 4.0 × 10−7 g of cyanocobalamin per 100 g of dry weight and showed a significant increase in glucose and lycopene levels. CONCLUSION The present study highlights the use of a cyanocobalamin–supplementation system for the production of B12 fortified tomato fruits that can help prevent B12 deficiency in vegetarians. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
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