Definitions Flashcards
What are vitamers?
Different molecular structures of vitamins i.e. Vitamin A has the vitamers of Retinol, retinal and retinoic acid.
What are vitamins?
What can they not do? (2)
Two examples of being precursors
Organic compounds required by the body in small amounts for normal metabolic functions
- cannot be manufactured by the body, thus are essential
- cannot be converted into energy but some are co-factors in the process of energy production
Example: Vit b5 is needed for the synthesis of coenzyme A (crucial for Krebs cycle
Vit B6 is needed in the transfer of amino groups (critical to amino acid metabolism)
Most Vit b come from plants; most fat soluable come from animal sources.
What are Probiotics?
Probiotics are live microorganisms (in most cases bacteria) that help to keep the digestive system healthy by reducing the growth of harmful gut microbes and boosting the number and variety of ‘friendly’ but microbes.
Maintain tight junction integrity (tight junctions are between each of the cells in the intestinal wall, need to be tight yet flexible to let nutrients and other molecules though the intestinal wall and into the blood stream).
Increase the qualify of the modus layer that protects the intestinal wall and enhances the production of molecules called defensins (type of anti-microbial regulator that keeps nasty bugs under control).
Modulate the immune system (turning it up or down)
Examples and benefits of short chained fatty acids
Butyrate, acetate and propionate
Waxy molecules that help lower the local pH in the gut, making it less hospitable environment for disease carrying bacteria (e.g. clostridium difficile) to adhere to the intestinal wall and reproduce there.
What do high levels of zonulin indicate?
Measured via stool test, high levels are seen as a sign of intestinal permeability or leaky gut, which is a symptom of overall disruption of the gut.
What are electrolytes? And 3 functions
Any ionic compound i.e. salt, that has been dissolved in water.
Therefore there are positive and negative ions i.e. Sodium (NA+), Chloride (CL-), Potassium (K+), Magnesium (MG++), Calcium (CA++) Phosphate (HP04-) and Bicarbonate (HCO3-)
Main ones are salt, potassium and chloride.
Nerve and muscle function;
They exert osmotic pressure important for water balance i.e hydrate the body
Some play an important role in acid-base balance
Help rebuild damaged tissue ?? (Check this)
What is an acid? What is a base?
A substance that releases a high concentration of H+ ions is an acid.
A base is a substance that binds to the H+ and mops them up and creates a lot OH-.
If you put an acid and a base together, they react chemically to form a salt plus water.
HCL (salt) plus KOH (Potassium Hydroxide) = KCl plus H2O
Buffer systems
Like little banks, if there is too much acid they mop it up, too little they release it.
Hydrogen + bicarbonate ion = carbonic acid
Or
Sodium hydroxide plus carbonic acid = sodium bicarbonate plus water
Back up plan = breathe out to get rid of CO2 naturally lowers acidity
and the kidneys can get rid of H+ ions via the urine.
What are free radicals?
A free radical is a molecule or compound that has an unpaired electron; it will promote oxidation (stealing electrons from other molecules) causing a chain of damage until it comes across something big enough that can afford to loose electrons. With humans that could be DNA which will then lead to issues further down the road i.e. cancerous changes; or antioxidants found in fruit and veg.
What are anti-oxidants?
Chemicals that can give up electrons without being damaged themselves i.e. Vitamin C that has a cloud of electrons. They can also recycle themselves by interacting with other antioxidants (i.e. Vit C and Vit E) that s why it’s important to ingest a mixture of different anti-oxidants.
What are isomers and epimers?
An isomer is anything that has the same chemical formula but is arranged in a slightly different structure i.e. glucose, fructose, galactose and mannose are all isomers of each other’s.
If the difference is only on one carbon a tome they are also known as epimers i.e. glucose and galactose.
What is chemistry?
Chemistry is the study of matter and all the interactions that take place within matter
What is matter? And what are atoms?
Matter is everything around us that occupies space and has mass. Atoms are small particles of matter and are made up of electrons, protons and neutrons.
Difference between atomic and mass number of an atom
Atomic number = number of protons and electrons
Mass Number = number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus
Isotopes
- definition
- relationship to radiation
- applications in medicine
Isotopes are atoms of the same element which have different number of neutrons = does not affect the chemical activity as neutrons have no charge but it does change the mass;
Some (but not all) have such an imbalance of protons and neutrons that the atom becomes unstable. This is the cause of radioactivity. The unstable atom needs to get rid of energy to become stable by:
- alpha decay - ejecting protons and neutrons from the nucleus
- beta decay - splitting neutrons into protons and high energy electrons can be ejected
- gamma decay - emitting energy as gamma rays
Diagnostic techniques to scrutinise physiological process
Radiotherapy uses gamma rays to target rapidly dividing cells
Breath test for H Pylori uses urea labelled with either radioactive carbon-14 or non-radio active carbon-13.