What is Sialic Acid?
Sialic acid (SA), known scientifically as N-acetylneuraminic acid and bird’s nest acid, is a naturally occurring carbohydrate. It was originally isolated from mucin in the submandibular gland, hence its name.
Sialic acid is usually present in the form of oligosaccharides, glycolipids, or glycoproteins. In the human body, the brain has the highest content of sialic acid. The content of sialic acid in gray matter is 15 times higher than that in the liver, lung, and other internal organs.
Chemical Formula: C11H19NO9; Molecular Weight: 309.27; Cas Bo. : 131-48-6
Sources Of Sialic Acid. Does sialic acid come from bird’s nest?
Bird’s nest contains about 10% of sialic acid, and the earliest sialic acid is extracted directly from eggs, bird’s nests, etc., and the ingredients are complex and difficult to separate, and the cost is very high.
The structure of sialic acid is not very complicated. With the development of science and technology, sialic acid is made from biological enzymatic hydrolysis and chemical synthesis.
Manufacturing Methods
After years of research, the production methods of bird’s nest acid are also relatively diverse, including enzymatic synthesis, whole-cell biocatalysis, and microbial fermentation; at present, the mature method is microbial fermentation, using Escherichia coli as the host. Glucose or other cheap carbon sources are used for direct fermentation, which does not need to add any direct premise compared with enzymatic synthesis and whole-cell biocatalysis, which saves the production cost.
With the development of technology, it is believed that the raw material price of sialic acid still has room to decline.
What Foods Contain Sialic Acid?
The main food source of sialic acid is breast milk, which is also found in bird’s nests, milk, eggs, and cheese.
Breast milk is the main source of exogenous sialic acid for infants. The content of sialic acid in colostrum is the most abundant, much higher than that in milk, which is 0.3-1.5g / L and 0.08g / L to 0.760g / L in milk. The content of sialic acid in eggs varies with breed, region, and feed, the average content of sialic acid in eggs is 0.37mg / g, and that in black-bone eggs is 4.05mg/g.
Uses, Benefits
What are the effects of sialic acid in breast milk on infant development and what is its mechanism?
Sialic acid is an important component of gangliosides, which is usually modified at the end of gangliosides and exists in the central nervous system of vertebrates, especially in the brains of fetuses and newborns, so it is considered to have an important relationship with the development of the nervous system. It has been found that gangliosides are closely related to neuronal growth, synaptic formation, memory, and learning.
Sialic acid can increase the level of gangliosides in brain cells and enhance learning ability
The stable synaptic connection of nerve cells is the structural basis of memory formation, and sialic acid is the nutrient of nerve cell membrane and synapse, which can promote the differentiation, development, and regeneration of nerve cells.
The results of animal experiments show that sialic acid can increase the level of gangliosides in brain cells, thus enhancing learning ability.