With the large-scale production of biodiesel, the effective utilization of by-product glycerol has become an important factor affecting the development of biodiesel enterprises. It’s found that glycerol can be converted into glyceric acid with various biological activities and practical application value by existing scientific and technological means.
Glyceric acid molecule with three functional groups, active chemical properties, widely participate in chemical reactions, such as polymerization, condensation, is a kind of important chemical intermediates and multifunctional reagents, also a kind of important glycerol derivatives, classified as type D and L. Because of the different types of enzymes in the body, the two isomers comes from different metabolic processes in the body. At present, only D-glyceric acid has been found to have biological activities, such as diuretic, stimulating liver tissue regeneration, lowering cholesterol, and accelerating oxidation metabolism of ethanol and acetaldehyde in vivo.
1.Dispel the Effects of Alcohol and Protect Liver
Alcohol abuse is a widespread problem in the world. Alcoholism can seriously damage the physical and mental health of human, affecting many tissues and organs throughout the body, especially the liver. Long-term drinking or short-term heavy drinking can lead to the excessive accumulation of ethanol in the liver, causing liver steatosis, inflammation and necrosis occur cells, triggering the liver cell damaged and leading to liver lesions. It’ll affect the normal physiological function, its pathogenesis is closely related to oxidative stress, mitochondrial damage, liver cell apoptosis caused by alcohol metabolism. In western countries, many chemical-synthetic drugs have been developed to treat alcoholism, but most of them have various toxic and side effects. Asian countries tend to use natural drugs, extract various active ingredients from Chinese herbal medicines, act on multiple targets, and achieve the goal of curing alcoholism and protecting liver through multi-directional regulation.
In recent years, Eriksson et al. found D – such as glyceric acid can effectively accelerate the oxidation of ethanol in mice, and decrease of ethanol on the body of the damage, Hebe will be different, such as glyceric acid calcium salt with a certain concentration of ethanol in human gastric cancer cells were processed by the culture found a mixture of two kinds of glyceric acid than any one showed stronger resistance to alcohol damage in vitro.
2.Lower Cholesterol
Cholesterol, also known as cholesterin, is a derivative of cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene, which is composed of two components from the diet and the synthesis of the liver. It’s widely found in the brain and nerve tissues, and also found in the kidney, spleen, skin, liver and bile. In animals, cholesterol cannot be completely oxidized and decomposed to provide energy for the body. Instead, cholesterol is mainly involved in the production of cell membrane, bile acids, vitamin D and steroid hormones, and plays an important role in material metabolism and enzymatic reactions. Meanwhile, cholesterol esters and triglycerides can be transported in the blood.
High levels of LDL can increase the risk of coronary heart disease, and high density cholesterol can transfer the surrounding tissue(e.g., macrophages), including cholesterol and phospholipids in atherosclerotic plaque to the liver, and excrete through bile. Moreover, it also has the anti-oxidation, anti-inflammatory, improvement the action such as vascular endothelial function and inhibit thrombosis.
Currently, there are some chemical drugs that can rapidly reduce serum cholesterol level in the body, but they are usually accompanied by obvious side effects, and the long-term use cost is high, easy to repeat. Handa et al. found that glyceric acid also has the effect of lowering low-density cholesterol, with no obvious side effects.
3 Diuretic
Kidney and bladder problems can cause symptoms such as urinating difficulty and total urine output reduced throughout the day. Currently, relieving urine, supplemented by nourishing the spleen and kidney, is the main the treatment of these symptoms. And in line with the principles of maintaining food nutrition, diet to light, give enough heat to save the use of protein, so as to reduce the burden of the kidney. At the same time also add enough vitamins, increase the amount of water, in order to regulate the balance of acid and base in the body, and pay attention to rest. In long-term clinical application, medicinal materials such as semen plantaginis and plantain herb are often used to treat water swelling, heat dripping, astringency and pain, etc., which can effectively promote Na +, K + and Cl – excretion. D – glyceric acid has diuretic function.
