Related Experiment Videos
Efficiency of D-tryptophan as Niacin in rats
K Shibata1, M Swabe, T Fukuwatari
1Department of Life Style Studies, School of Human Cultures, University of Shiga Prefecture, Japan. kshibata@shc.usp.ac.jp
Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry
|April 15, 2000
Abstract:
L-tryptophan is a very important precursor of niacin in mammals. Food preparation in which proteins are exposed to an alkali and/or high temperature for a long period generate appreciable amounts of D-amino acids from racemization. The efficiency of D-tryptophan as niacin was thus investigated by using weanling rats. The availability of D-tryptophan was almost the same as that in L-tryptophan as the precursor of niacin and was 1/6 as active as niacin.