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Re: silly question? Re: inositol questions » honeybee

Posted by Larry Hoover on June 6, 2006, at 11:43:09

In reply to silly question? Re: inositol questions, posted by honeybee on June 1, 2006, at 15:44:13

> What exactly is inositol?

It is a simple sugar. A hexose. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inositol It's hard to picture, if you haven't seen the molecule in three dimensions, but it is not flat. It looks like a ring, because it's hard to draw any other way, but it is a lumpy bent ring, with a specific conformation. cis-1,2,3,5-trans-4,6-cyclohexanehexol. Every carbon on the ring has an oxygen/hydrogen pair (hydroxyl group) stuck to it. That means each carbon can react to link to other molecules (via the oxygen), to form larger molecules still. If you look at the wiki drawing, the dashed lines indicate you're to picture the atoms as being below the plane of the drawing. Those solid wedges indicate bonds above the plane.

A hydroxyl group "means" something (C-H bonds generally don't mean anything), and *that* meaning gets modified if there's a phosphate stuck on it. The language is the structure itself. So, the body speaks in lumpy molecules. Kind of like sign language.

Most often, inositol gets phosphate groups stuck onto it. One phosphate group turns it into myo-inositol. Three phosphate groups makes it into inositol triphosphate (ITP), which is a direct modulator of serotonergic synapses. It is quite probable that free inositol does something similar. It doesn't much matter, as there are enzymes just itching to glue on those phosphate groups. Free inositol/myo-inositol is just a raw material to those enzymes.

Six phosphate groups turns it into phytic acid, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inositol_hexaphosphate, which is not digestible by humans. It stays all phosphated, and that makes it a strong chelator for minerals. If you get too much phytate in your diet (e.g. from bran), then you can end up with high mineral poop, instead of the intended uptake of those minerals.

> I seem to understand that it increases the sensitivity of the serotonin receptors but is this targeted to the brain or serotonin receptors all over the body?
>
> hb

Unless there is direct evidence otherwise (which I have never seen), one should assume systemic effects. Different serotonin receptor subtypes themselves lead to a diversity of effects, so it is really hard to predict how it will affect anybody. Gotta do the experiment, eh?

Lar

 

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