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Methylene Cyclopropyl Acetic Acid
Methylene cyclopropyl acetic acid (MCPA) is found in lychee seeds and also a toxic metabolite in mammalian digestion after ingestion of hypoglycin. Overview Methylene cyclopropyl acetic acid (MCPA) is a compound found in lychee (''Litchi chinensis'') seeds.Gray DO, FowdeL. alpha-(methylenecyclopropyl)glycine from litchi seeds.Biochem J 1962;82:385–9. It is also a metabolite in mammalian digestion after ingestion of hypoglycin, a rare and potentially toxic amino acid, chemically related to the common amino acid lysine. Hypoglycin is found in the unripe ackee fruit in Africa. Dihydrosterculic acid is the major carbocyclic fatty acid in the seed oils of ''Litchi chinensis''. It is a cyclopropane fatty acid; these have been found in many plants of the order Malvales (Malvaceae), in up to 60% of seed oil content, depending on the species but also in leaves, roots and shoots. They are accompanied by small amounts of their cyclopropanoid analogues, i.e. cyclopropyl acetic acid. Path ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lychee
Lychee (US: ; UK: ; ''Litchi chinensis''; ) is a Monotypic taxon, monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus ''Litchi'' in the Sapindus, soapberry family, ''Sapindaceae''. It is a tropical tree native to Southeast and Southwest China (the Guangdong, Fujian, Yunnan and Hainan provinces), Assam, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaya, Java, Jawa, Borneo, Philippines and New Guinea. The tree is introduced into Cambodia, Andaman Islands, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Mauritius and Réunion. The cultivation in China is documented from the 11th century. China is the main producer of lychees, followed by Vietnam, India, other countries in Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Madagascar and South Africa. A tall evergreen tree, the lychee bears small fleshy Drupe, fruits. The outside of the fruit is pink-red, roughly textured, and inedible, covering sweet flesh eaten in many different dessert dishes. Lychee seeds contain Methylene cyclopropyl acetic acid, methylene cycl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Short-chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase
Short-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (, butyryl-CoA dehydrogenase, butanoyl-CoA dehydrogenase, butyryl dehydrogenase, unsaturated acyl-CoA reductase, ethylene reductase, enoyl-coenzyme A reductase, unsaturated acyl coenzyme A reductase, butyryl coenzyme A dehydrogenase, short-chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase, short-chain acyl-coenzyme A dehydrogenase, 3-hydroxyacyl CoA reductase, butanoyl-CoA:(acceptor) 2,3-oxidoreductase, ACADS (gene).) is an enzyme with systematic name short-chain acyl-CoA:electron-transfer flavoprotein 2,3-oxidoreductase. This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction : a short-chain acyl-CoA + electron-transfer flavoprotein \rightleftharpoons a short-chain trans-2,3-dehydroacyl-CoA + reduced electron-transfer flavoprotein This enzyme contains FAD as prosthetic group. See also * Acyl-CoA dehydrogenase ** Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase * Butyryl-CoA Butyryl-coenzyme A (or butyryl-CoA) is the coenzyme A-containing derivative of butyric acid. It is acted u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jamaican Vomiting Sickness
Jamaican vomiting sickness, also known as toxic hypoglycemic syndrome (THS), acute ackee fruit intoxication, or ackee poisoning, is an acute illness caused by the toxins hypoglycin A and hypoglycin B, which are present in fruit of the ackee tree. While in the fully ripened arils, hypoglycin A is at levels of less than 0.1 ppm, in unripe arils it can be over 1000 ppm and can cause vomiting and even death. Some countries in the Caribbean and Western Africa experience frequent cases. Presentation Abdominal discomfort begins two to six hours after eating unripe ackee fruit, followed by sudden onset vomiting. In severe cases, profound dehydration, seizures, coma, and death may ensue. Children and those who are malnourished are more susceptible to the disease. Pathophysiology When ingested, hypoglycin A is metabolized to produce methylenecyclopropylacetic acid (MCPA). MCPA acts to inhibit the beta-oxidation of fatty acids in two ways. First, it interferes with the transport of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arils
An aril (pronounced ), also called an arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode or false aril is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the seed to the ovary (from the funiculus or '' hilum''), an arillode forms from a different point on the seed coat. The term "aril" is sometimes applied to any fleshy appendage of the seed in flowering plants, such as the mace of the nutmeg seed. Arils and arillodes are often edible enticements that encourage animals to transport the seed, thereby assisting in seed dispersal. Pseudarils are aril-like structures commonly found on the pyrenes of Burseraceae species that develop from the mesocarp of the ovary. The fleshy, edible pericarp splits neatly in two halves, then falling away or being eaten to reveal a brightly coloured pseudaril around the black seed. The aril may create a fruit-like structure, called (among other names) a ''false fruit' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sapindaceae
The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee. The Sapindaceae occur in temperate to tropical regions, many in laurel forest habitat, throughout the world. Many are laticiferous, i.e. they contain latex, a milky sap, and many contain mildly toxic saponins with soap-like qualities in either the foliage and/or the seeds, or roots. The largest genera are ''Serjania'', ''Paullinia'', ''Allophylus'' and '' Acer''. Description Plants of this family have a variety of habits, from trees to herbaceous plants to lianas. The leaves of the tropical genera are usually spirally alternate, while those of the temperate maples ('' Acer), Aesculus'', and a few other genera are opposite. They are most often pinnately compound, but are palmately compound in ''Aesculus'', and simply palmate in ''Acer''. The petiole has a swollen ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypoglycin B
Hypoglycin B is a naturally occurring organic compound in the species '' Blighia sapida''. It is particularly concentrated in the fruit of the plant especially in the seeds. Hypoglycin B is toxic if ingested and is one of the causative agents of Jamaican vomiting sickness. It is a dipeptide of glutamic acid Glutamic acid (symbol Glu or E; the ionic form is known as glutamate) is an α-amino acid that is used by almost all living beings in the biosynthesis of proteins. It is a non-essential nutrient for humans, meaning that the human body can synt ... and hypoglycin A. References Dipeptides Dicarboxylic acids Toxic amino acids {{organic-compound-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxidative Decarboxylation
Oxidative decarboxylation is a decarboxylation reaction caused by oxidation. Most are accompanied by α- Ketoglutarate α- Decarboxylation caused by dehydrogenation of hydroxyl carboxylic acids such as carbonyl carboxylic acid, malic acid, isocitric acid, etc. Differences between oxidative decarboxylation and simple decarboxylation Pyruvate catalytic reaction catalyzed by pyruvate dehydrogenase system is a special decarboxylation method, namely oxidative decarboxylation, which is different from the common decarboxylation reaction, namely common decarboxylation. The oxidative decarboxylation reaction is catalyzed by pyruvate dehydrogenase system, which includes three different enzymes: pyruvate dehydrogenase (E1), dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2), dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase (E3), and six cofactors: thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), lipoamide, coenzyme A (CoA), flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), and magnesium ion. During the reacti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deamination
Deamination is the removal of an amino group from a molecule. Enzymes that catalyse this reaction are called deaminases. In the human body, deamination takes place primarily in the liver, however it can also occur in the kidney. In situations of excess protein intake, deamination is used to break down amino acids for energy. The amino group is removed from the amino acid and converted to ammonia. The rest of the amino acid is made up of mostly carbon and hydrogen, and is recycled or oxidized for energy. Ammonia is toxic to the human system, and enzymes convert it to urea or uric acid by addition of carbon dioxide molecules (which is not considered a deamination process) in the urea cycle, which also takes place in the liver. Urea and uric acid can safely diffuse into the blood and then be excreted in urine. Deamination reactions in DNA Cytosine Spontaneous deamination is the hydrolysis reaction of cytosine into uracil, releasing ammonia in the process. This can occur in vitro thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glycerol
Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known as glycerides. Because it has antimicrobial and antiviral properties, it is widely used in wound and burn treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Conversely, it is also used as a bacterial culture medium. It can be used as an effective marker to measure liver disease. It is also widely used as a sweetener in the food industry and as a humectant in pharmaceutical formulations. Because of its three hydroxyl groups, glycerol is miscible with water and is hygroscopic in nature. Structure Although achiral, glycerol is prochiral with respect to reactions of one of the two primary alcohols. Thus, in substituted derivatives, the stereospecific numbering labels the molecule with a "sn-" prefix before the stem name of the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lactic Acid
Lactic acid is an organic acid. It has a molecular formula . It is white in the solid state and it is miscible with water. When in the dissolved state, it forms a colorless solution. Production includes both artificial synthesis as well as natural sources. Lactic acid is an alpha-hydroxy acid (AHA) due to the presence of a hydroxyl group adjacent to the carboxyl group. It is used as a synthetic intermediate in many organic synthesis industries and in various biochemical industries. The conjugate base of lactic acid is called lactate (or the lactate anion). The name of the derived acyl group is lactoyl. In solution, it can ionize by loss of a proton to produce the lactate ion . Compared to acetic acid, its p''K'' is 1 unit less, meaning lactic acid is ten times more acidic than acetic acid. This higher acidity is the consequence of the intramolecular hydrogen bonding between the α-hydroxyl and the carboxylate group. Lactic acid is chiral, consisting of two enantiomers. One ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glucogenic Amino Acid
A glucogenic amino acid (or glucoplastic amino acid) is an amino acid that can be converted into glucose through gluconeogenesis. This is in contrast to the ketogenic amino acids, which are converted into ketone bodies. The production of glucose from glucogenic amino acids involves these amino acids being converted to alpha keto acids and then to glucose, with both processes occurring in the liver. This mechanism predominates during catabolysis, rising as fasting and starvation increase in severity. In humans, the glucogenic amino acids are: * Alanine * Arginine * Asparagine * Aspartic acid * Cysteine * Glutamic acid * Glutamine * Glycine * Histidine * Methionine * Proline * Serine * Valine Amino acids that are both glucogenic and ketogenic (mnemonic "PITTT"): * Phenylalanine * Isoleucine * Threonine * Tryptophan * Tyrosine Only leucine and lysine are not glucogenic (they are only ketogenic). See also * Glycolysis * Ketogenic amino acid * List of standard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia, also called low blood sugar, is a fall in blood sugar to levels below normal, typically below 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L). Whipple's triad is used to properly identify hypoglycemic episodes. It is defined as blood glucose below 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L), symptoms associated with hypoglycemia, and resolution of symptoms when blood sugar returns to normal. Hypoglycemia may result in headache, tiredness, clumsiness, trouble talking, confusion, fast heart rate, sweating, shakiness, nervousness, hunger, loss of consciousness, seizures, or death. Symptoms typically come on quickly. The most common cause of hypoglycemia is medications used to treat diabetes such as insulin, sulfonylureas, and biguanides. Risk is greater in diabetics who have eaten less than usual, recently exercised, or consumed alcohol. Other causes of hypoglycemia include severe illness, sepsis, kidney failure, liver disease, hormone deficiency, tumors such as insulinomas or non-B cell tumo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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