Acids in Human Body
People apply 20 amino acids for their purposes, but there are more than 260 of them in nature. Those 20 amino acids are categorized into two kinds: essential and nonessential.
Essential amino acids should be acquired from the diet. These contain threonine, leucine, lysine, methionine, valine, isoleucine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine.
There is also one component, histidine, that is called semi-essential, because it's necessary for development of children.
Nonessential amino acids are those that human body may produce from the essential amino acids or natural break of proteins. The non-essential amino acids are arginine, alanine, serine, aspartic acid, glutamine, cysteine, asparagine, glycine, proline, glutamic acid, and tyrosine. Amino acids, as the building blocks of the most various organic compounds, have a peculiar construction. Amino acids have a carboxy group and an amino group. These groups are covalently connected with the alpha carbon. The functional groups are classified into polar, non-polar or fundamental side chains, in the essential amino acids. There is a more detailed look at the eight essential amino acids and the important parts they take.
Threonine T (Thr)
Thr is important for immune system. It supports the manufacturing of antibodies and is found in central nervous system. Chemists claim that it can be helpful in curing various kinds of stress.
Leucine L (Leu)
This AA is very important, because it helps the body to process proteins, vitamins and minerals. If you don't have sufficient quantity of this AA in your structure, your organism will not be able to properly assimilate the protein and vitamins that you consume.
Lysine K (Lys)
Lys aids make carnitine, which alters fatty amino acids to energy, and it assists make collagen needed for bones and connective tissue.
Methionine M (Met)
This AA is a transitional in the synthesis of cysteine, lecithin, carnitine, phosphatidylcholine and other phospholipids. Inappropriate conversion of methionine can lead to atherosclerosis.
Valine V (Val)
The procedure of glucose metabolism and the immune system demand valine. Some sportsmen apply L-valine for their muscle metabolism. It hastens the revival after strict training.
Isoleucine I (Ile)
This amino acid is demanded for the formation of hemoglobin, which carries iron in the blood, and for the control of blood sugar, which is burned for energy in the muscles during exercise.
Threonine T (Thr)
Thr is an important element of diverse proteins in the organism and is necessary in forming tooth enamel, elastin and collagen, which are answerable for both healthy skin and wound healing.
Phenylalanine F (Phe)
This AA is significant for synthesis of other amino acids. It's also located in the arrangement of proteins and enzymes and helps them to act. It may turn to tyrosine that is extensively utilized in production of norepinephrine, dopamine and other neuromediators.
Those eight essential amino acids take part in diverse processes in our body such as metabolic, physiologic and therapeutic ones. But the major point here is that free amino acids may be used as alternate energy sources, neuromediators and nitrogen containing produces, being an element of peptide and protein structure in the similar time.
Human body demands amino acids and they play a significant and rather peculiar role there. But they should be gotten from the diet.
March 01 2010 10:42 am | Sciences