Biochemical Reagents

Indole-3-propionamide or IPAM is an antioxidant used to modify mitochondrial metabolism and to decrease reactive oxygen species production. It is cell-permeable.

3-Indoxyl-β-D-glucuronic acid is used in detection and enumeration of E. coli. This chromogenic substrate is used for β-D-glucuronidase, and yields a blue precipitate upon cleavage.

p-Iodonitrotetrazolium Violet (also called INT) is a tetrazolium dye that turns purple upon reduction. INT dye is often used to visualize dehydrogenase activity histochemically as well as western blot staining and as a staining agent for soft agar colony formation assays.

Through inhibition of superoxide dismutase, IPA has shown to protect against oxidative damage in primary neurons and neuroblastoma cells. IPA has also shown to protect against death caused by exposure to amyloid β-protein in primary neurons and neuroblastoma cells.

Kuromanin chloride is an anthocyanin neuroprotectant and antioxidant. It is found in the fruits of several plants and is shown to protect neurons from oxidative stress. Additionally, kuromanin chloride is an ADP-ribosyl cyclase CD38 inhibitor, ultimately suppressing the metabolism of NAD⁺ and NADP⁺.

H-Ala-pNAHCl is a substrate for L-alanine aminopeptidase, which is an enzyme that is localized in bacterial cell walls responsible for the cleavage of L-alanine from various peptides. Significant L-alanine aminopeptidase activity is specific to gram-negative microbes. Therefore, H-Ala-pNAHCl can be used in support of evidence that an organism is gram-positive or gram-negative. It is split by L-alanine aminopeptide into L-alanine and 4-nitroanine. The latter compound causes bacterial suspensions to turn yellow.

H-Ala-AMCTFA (L-Alanine 7-amido-4-methylcoumarin, trifluoroacetate salt) is a fluorogenic substrate for aminopeptidase that yields a blue fluorescent solution. This substrate is useful in differentiating between gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.

L-Arabinose is an arabinose isomer widely found in nature, while D-arabinose is less common. L-Arabinose is a constituent of many biopolymers that make up plant cell walls.

This monosaccharide is often used in cell culture media, serving as a bacterial carbon source, and can be used to distinguish between bacteria based on their fermentation abilities.

L-Arabinose, in the absence of glucose, induces transcription of the ara operon in E. coli that encodes L-arabinose catabolizing enzymes. It does this by binding to the AraC protein and activating the P_BAD promoter. The P_BAD promoter is used in plasmid vectors as a switch for protein expression that can be turned on by L-arabinose or turned off by addition of glucose.

L-Carnosine is a white to slightly off-white crystalline powder that is used as a substrate for carnosinase-1 and other enzymes.

L-Histidinol dihydrochloride is a histamine precursor. It has been shown to reversibly inhibit protein synthesis.

Homocysteine is a cysteine homolog,and only differs by having an additional methylene bridge. It is often used in vitro as a reference to measure L-homocysteine in plasma in order to diagnose homocystinuria. This genetic disorder causes the body to be unable to process certain amino acids.

Higher levels of homocysteine found in the body is due to having vitamin B6 or B12 deficiencies. Finding higher levels may indicate possible cardiovascular disease; however, reducing the levels of homocysteine in the body does not appear to remedy the situation.

L-Lactic acid is the biologically active isomer of Lactic Acid. In animals, it is constantly produced from pyruvate via the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in a process of fermentation during normal metabolism and exercise. It can also be used to create biodegradable polymers.

L-Malic acid, disodium salt is a dicarboxylic acid used to differentiate microorganisms based on their varying metabolic properties. It is a source of CO₂ in the Calvin cycle and an intermediate of the citric acid cycle.

L-Rhamnose monohydrate is a deoxy sugar in plants and bacteria. It is a component of plant cell walls that helps maintain structure.

Sorbose is a ketose belonging to the group of sugars known as monosaccharides. L-Sorbose is the configuration of the naturally-occurring sugar and has a sweetness equivalent to that of sucrose. L-Sorbose is often used as a starting reagent for the biosynthesis of ascorbic acid and forms a colorless, clear solution when dissolved in water.

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid in the human diet. Its functions as a serotonin precursor have increased interest in its ability to treat depression and epilepsy; however, there has been inconclusive evidence in clinical trials regarding its efficacy in humans. Safety has also been a concern.

It is widely used in molecular genetics as an auxotrophic genetic marker in yeast gene disruption experiments.

Magnesium sulfate, heptahydrate is a magnesium ion source. Magnesium plays an important role in cell muscle physiology, cardiovascular and muscular activity and nucleic acid structure. Magnesium also functions as a cofactor for restriction enzymes like EcoR I and EcoR V, as well as deoxyribonuclease (DNase).

Magnesium sulfate, heptahydrate can also be used in the protocol for the isolation of chromosomes or nucleic acids.

meso-Erythritol is a compound used in cell culture to differentiate bacteria based on carbohydrate fermentation ability. Erythritol may be a ligand for the T1R3 receptor and is a precursor to L-erythrulose. It is useful in supporting the carbon source growth requirement of Gluconobacter bacteria. It has also been used as a reference material in purification and analysis procedures developed to assay fermentation broths.

Miltefosine is a biologically active alkylphospholipid that inhibits protein kinase C and phosphatidylcholine synthesis. It has been shown to induce apoptosis of a variety of cancer cell lines. Additionally, miltefosine is used against leishmaniasis and metronidazole-resistant and -susceptible strains of Trichomonas vaginalis. It is studied for its potential use as an anticancer agent.