Alginic acid was first discovered on British kelp in 1883 by Scottish chemist Dr. E.C.C. Stanford, and was widely used for medical and manufacturing purposes during World War II. This gelatinous seaweed derivative is able to encapsulate water inside of a thin, edible membrane—kind of like the agar you probably used in high school biology.
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This polysaccharide is a major component of brown algae, and is not found in land plants. Alginic acid can also be used in aquaculture. For example, alginic acid enhances the immune system of rainbow trout. Younger fish are more likely to survive when given a diet with alginic acid.
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Calcium alginate is a water-insoluble, gelatinous, cream-coloured substance that can be created through the addition of aqueous calcium chloride to aqueous sodium alginate. Calcium alginate is also used for entrapment of enzymes and forming artificial seeds in plant tissue culture. "Alginate" is usually the salts of alginic acid, but it can also refer to derivatives of alginic acid and alginic acid itself; in some publications the term "algin" is used instead of alginate. Alginate is present in the cell walls of brown algae, as the calcium, magnesium and sodium salts of alginic acid.
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Sodium alginate (NaC6H7O6) is the sodium salt of alginic acid. Sodium alginate is a gum. Potassium alginate (KC6H7O6 ) is the potassium salt of alginic acid. Calcium alginate (C12H14CaO12 ), is made from sodium alginate from which the sodium ion has been removed and replaced with calcium.
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Brown algae include a number of edible seaweeds. All brown algae contain alginic acid (alginate) in their cell walls, which is extracted commercially and used as an industrial thickening agent in food and for other uses. One of these products is used in lithium-ion batteries. Alginic acid is used as a stable component of a battery anode.
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Laminarid is a blend of polysaccharides, proteins and salts of alginic acid obtained from sea cabbage (Laminariae thalli). It is an osmotic laxative.
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Alginic acid, or alginate, is extracted from brown algae. Its uses range from gelling agents in food, to medical dressings. Alginic acid also has been used in the field of biotechnology as a biocompatible medium for cell encapsulation and cell immobilization. Molecular cuisine is also a user of the substance for its gelling properties, by which it becomes a delivery vehicle for flavours.
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Alginic acid functions as a heparinoid when it is sulfated. Pentosan from the bark of Fagus sylvatica, when sulfated, acts with 1/10th of the efficacy of heparin.
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Polymannuronate hydrolase (, polymannuronic acid polymerase) is an enzyme with systematic name poly(mannuronide) mannuronohydrolase. This enzyme catalyses the following chemical reaction : Endohydrolysis of the D-mannuronide linkages of polymannuronate This enzyme does not act on alginic acid, which is a copolymer of polymannuronate.
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Mozuku is a collective term for various types of Japanese brown algae from the family Chordariaceae, which are used as food. These include ito-mozuku (Nemacystus decipiens)M. Tako, S. Kiyuna, S. Uechi, F. Hongo: Isolation and characterization of alginic acid from commercially cultured Nemacystus decipiens (Itomozuku). Biosci Biotechnol Biochem.
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Brown algae have a value in the range of , in contrast with red algae and greens. This reflects their different metabolic pathways. They have cellulose walls with alginic acid and also contain the polysaccharide fucoidan in the amorphous sections of their cell walls. A few species (of Padina) calcify with aragonite needles.
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Laminaria digitata is harvested offshore of France and Morocco for use in manufacturing alginic acid. It is used as an ingredient in some cosmetics. It was traditionally used as a fertiliser and spread on the land. In the 18th century it was burnt to extract the potash it contained for use in the glass industry.
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Alginate dressings are produced from the calcium and sodium salts of alginic acid, a polysaccharide comprising mannuronic and guluronic acid units. Alginate is initially extracted from the cell wall of Brown seaweeds. Alginate dressings can be in the form of freeze-dried, porous (foam) sheets or flexible fibres. Flexible fibres are used to treat cavity wounds.
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Propylene glycol alginate (PGA) is an emulsifier, stabilizer, and thickener used in food products. It is a food additive with E number E405. Chemically, propylene glycol alginate is an ester of alginic acid, which is derived from kelp. Some of the carboxyl groups are esterified with propylene glycol, some are neutralized with an appropriate alkali, and some remain free.
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Owing to their ability to fix molecular nitrogen and therefore increase the soil fertility and stimulate plant growth, Azotobacter species are widely used in agriculture, particularly in nitrogen biofertilizers such as azotobacterin. They are also used in production of alginic acid, which is applied in medicine as an antacid, in the food industry as an additive to ice cream, puddings, and creams.
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Alginic acid is a linear copolymer with homopolymeric blocks of (1-4)-linked β-D-mannuronate (M) and its C-5 epimer α-L-guluronate (G) residues, respectively, covalently linked together in different sequences or blocks. The monomers may appear in homopolymeric blocks of consecutive G-residues (G-blocks), consecutive M-residues (M-blocks) or alternating M and G-residues (MG-blocks).
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The primary medications used for GERD are proton-pump inhibitors, H2 receptor blockers and antacids with or without alginic acid. The use of acid suppression therapy is a common response to GERD symptoms and many people get more of this kind of treatment than their case merits. The overuse of acid suppression is a problem because of the side effects and costs.
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The evidence for antacids is weaker with a benefit of about 10% (NNT=13) while a combination of an antacid and alginic acid (such as Gaviscon) may improve symptoms 60% (NNT=4). Metoclopramide (a prokinetic) is not recommended either alone or in combination with other treatments due to concerns around adverse effects. The benefit of the prokinetic mosapride is modest.
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Brown algaes also exsude phlorotannins in surrounding seawater. It has been proposed that phlorotannins are first sequestered in physodes under their polar, reactive form before being oxidized and complexed to the alginic acid of brown algal cell wall by a peroxidase. To this date (2012), not much is known about phlorotannins synthesis. The formation of physodes, vesicles containing phenolic compounds, have been investigated for many years.
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Alginate dressing: This type of dressing is made up of either sodium or calcium salt of alginic acid. This dressing can absorb high amount of discharge from a wound. Ions present in the dressing can interact with blood to produce a film that protects the wound from bacterial contamination. However, this dressing is not suitable for dry wounds, third degree burn wound, and deep wounds with exposed bone.
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Alginate, or alginic acid, is a natural acidic linear polysaccharide derived from seaweed. It is composed of α-L-guluronate and β-D-mannuronate. Bulk alginate is widely used in the food industry and for medical purposes due to its unique characteristics such as high viscosity in aqueous solution and gel-forming property in the presence of calcium ions. Previous studies have also shown that alginate oligosaccharides may act as growth promoting agents on some plant cells.
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Theorists also suggest that the kelp forests would have helped these ancient colonists by providing a stable way of life and preventing them from having to adapt to new ecosystems and develop new survival methods even as they traveled thousands of miles.Pringle Did Humans Colonize the World by Boat? Modern economies are based on fisheries of kelp- associated species such as lobster and rockfish. Humans can also harvest kelp directly to feed aquaculture species such as abalone and to extract the compound alginic acid, which is used in products like toothpaste and antacids.
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Macrocystis pyrifera, the largest species of giant kelp Alginic acid, also called algin, is a polysaccharide distributed widely in the cell walls of brown algae that is hydrophilic and forms a viscous gum when hydrated. With metals such as sodium and calcium, its salts are known as alginates. It is a significant component of the biofilms produced by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a major pathogen found in the lungs of some people who have cystic fibrosis. The biofilm and P. aeruginosa have a high resistance to antibiotics, and are susceptible to inhibition by macrophages.
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The shark fin is replaced with an imitation and edible mushrooms, kelps, seaweeds, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and beaten eggs are added, as in the traditional soup. Imitation shark fin (素翅), typically from Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, is known as suchì in Chinese Mandarin and sou ci in Chinese Cantonese, literally means "vegetarian fin". A Taiwanese manufacturer's recipe for it contains water, gelatin, alginic acid, sugar, casein, and triolein to reproduce the chewy, gelatinous texture of shark fins. However, some of these imitations absorb the broth more quickly than the real shark fin.
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The company opened a processing plant on the coast of Maine to extract algin and alginic acid from ocean kelp and process ingredients for use in the production of K-Gel. Although initially successful, the plant was sold when a 1945 hurricane destroyed the kelp beds. In 1939, Betz was asked to formulate synthetic London water for use by George VI and his consort, Queen Elizabeth during their visit it the United States. In 1932, John Drew Betz, the son, and grandson of the company founders joined the company while still in high school, working a sample bottle washer, and in 1940, he joined the family partnership.
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