Biologically active vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) is a test based on a microbiological method that measures the total vitamin B5 content in a blood sample.
What are the benefits of measuring Biologically Active Vitamins?
This test measures the biologically active in vivo metabolites of B vitamins. Vitamins' biological action (bioactivity) has greater value and is a more representative indication of their active concentration than the simple chemical measurement of their levels, especially in cases where these indications are used to determine substitution therapy or to check a therapeutic intervention.
Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) is synthesized by most microorganisms and plants from pantoic acid. The vitamin is an integral part of 4'-phosphopantetheine, a coenzyme A (CoA) component. CoA is crucial in metabolizing numerous compounds, especially lipids, and the ultimate catabolic disposition of carbohydrates and ketogenic amino acids. About 80% of the vitamin in animal tissues is in CoA form, and the rest exists mainly as phosphopantetheine and phosphopantetheine. Another essential role of pantothenic acid is its participation in chain elongation during fatty acid biosynthesis.
Pantothenic acid deficiency
Pantothenic acid deficiency is exceedingly rare. Because of its rarity, most information about pantothenic acid deficiency has been obtained from experiments: Pantothenic acid deficiency has been induced in humans by the use of a metabolic antagonist, omega-methyl pantothenic acid, along with a pantothenic acid-deficient diet. Subjects became irascible and developed postural hypotension and rapid heart rate on exertion, epigastric distress with anorexia and constipation, numbness, and tingling of the hands and feet. Because pantothenic acid involves so many vital processes in the body, it is unsurprising that many complications might result from deficiency.
Recent research has shown that the pantothenic acid derivative, pantethine (two molecules of pantetheine joined by a disulfide bond), has a hypocholesterolemic effect. A metabolic antagonist of pantothenic acid, pantoyl g-amino butyric acid (called pantoyl-GABA), is widely used in Japan as an antidementia drug for treating cognitive impairments in pathological states such as Alzheimer‘s disease, presumably through increasing cholinergic activity in vivo.
Indications
Suspicion of inadequate intake of pantothenic acid, e.g.
- Dialysis patients
- Alcohol abuse
- Crohn’s disease, Colitis ulcerosa
How are Biologically Active Vitamins measured?
To test the biologically active vitamins, the blood sample is subjected to an enzymatic pre-treatment and then placed in microplates containing microorganisms sensitive to these vitamins (e.g., Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Lactobacillus leichmanii, Saccharomyces cerevisiae). The nutrient medium, specific and unique to each vitamin, contains all the necessary ingredients for the growth of microorganisms, except for the vitamin to be measured. When the patient's blood is added to the material, the microorganisms grow until the examined vitamin is depleted. The growth of microorganisms is measured after 72 hours of incubation in a special multi-channel analyzer and compared to standard concentrations of vitamins. The bioactivity of the tested vitamin is directly proportional to the measured growth of microorganisms.
