Isotope-labeled Amino Acids

Introduction

The stable isotope-labeled amino acids refer to amino acids whose normal atoms are replaced by their stable isotope nuclide. They have the same structure and the same physical and chemical properties with common amino acids. But the direction of the isotope atoms in stable isotope-labeled amino acids can be observed in the process of experiment by the analysis testing instruments such as mass spectrometry (MS) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), which provides a safe, effective and convenient tracer tool for the scientific researches that can reveal the transport and transformation process in animals and plants and explore the synthesis mechanism of chemical substances.

Synthesis

In recent years, various stable isotope-labeled amino acids have been synthesized by methods of chemical synthesis, biosynthesis and isotope exchange. Among them, biosynthesis method is mainly used for the synthesis of stable isotope-labeled amino acids required in the field of life science. Biosynthesis method mainly includes fermentation method and enzyme method. The general process of fermentation method is as follows. Select the specific strains and add required isotope materials such as ¹³C labeled glucose (carbon source) and ¹⁵N labeled ammonium sulfate (nitrogen source) in the suitable culture medium. After that, the culture medium is sterilized and activated strain or the seed liquid cultivated by seed are directly added and then culture to the required period. When fermentation is stopped, fermentation liquid is centrifugation to obtain the supernatant, which is through a series of processes of extraction, separation, decoloration, purification, rectification and crystallization to obtain required stable isotope-labeled products.

Applications

Medicine field: Amino acids are essential nutrients for the human body. The main metabolic pathway of amino acids in human body and living organism is to synthesize protein first, then transform into important biological activities of enzymes and hormones, and finally be used or discharged by other tissues. Based on that, the stable isotope-labeled amino acids can be used as tracers to uncover the physical and chemical processes in vivo and in cells. And understanding the metabolism of organisms by using the metabolism process of labeled amino acids. For example, understanding the proteins metabolism in the body tissues and the structure and dynamics of proteins as well as diagnosing the disease clinically by abnormalities in protein synthesis.

Fig. 1 The synthesis process of proteins.

Biological field: By using the structural relationship between stable isotope-labeled amino acids and natural products, the isotope-labeled amino acids can act as starting materials to study the biosynthesis route of natural products in plants, animals and microorganisms by analyzing the abundance of product markers.

Pharmaceutical field: Many new drugs use isotope-labeled amino acids to determine their transfer and transformation efficacy in vivo, action mechanism, toxic and side effects. First of all, stable isotope-labeled amino acids can be used as both drugs and tracers to study their transformation, absorption, distribution and excretion in the body. Secondly, stable isotope-labeled amino acids can be used as physiological active substances to study the therapeutic mechanism of drugs. It can be seen that stable isotope-labeled amino acids provide important platform for drug research. In addition, it has the advantages of high sensitivity, little sample quantity and without affecting normal physiological activities under the condition of lower physiological activity when using isotope-labeled amino acids in new drugs development.

Chemical field: Stable isotope-labeled amino acids can be used as tracer to explore the related chemical reaction mechanism. It can also be used as raw material for the synthesis of other labeled products, such as synthesis of succinimide-¹³C and creatine-¹⁵N by using aspartic acid-¹³C and glycine-¹⁵N, respectively.

What can we offer?

As a professional supplier of stable isotope-labeled compounds, Alfa Chemistry has always shown great interest in the latest developments in stable isotope-labeled amino acids. Alfa Chemistry has excellent R&D staffs with rich experience who aim to provide high quality and cost-effective stable isotope-labeled amino acids timely. We can offer you with all kinds of stable isotope-labeled amino acids such as ²H, ¹³C, ¹⁵N, ¹³C ¹⁵N labeled amino acids. You can click on our product list for a detailed view. If you do not find the product you want, we also provide you with custom synthesis service. Please contact us, if you are in need of assistance.