Carbohydrates are primary metabolites, although in this case they represent the active ingredients of the drug.
Agar
Drug characterized by heteropolysacarides, obtained from algae belonging to the genus Gelidium, Condrus, Caraghein (marine algae grown on the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean, Portugal, France, Ireland and the coasts of Japan).
The algae are collected, washed, dried and subjected to subsequent washing with warm fresh water baths (to facilitate the solubilization of the heteropolysaccharides after detachment from the cell wall). A colloidal layer forms on the surface of the tanks containing hot water and algae, which is scraped off and separated from the extracted drug.
Washes with hot water are repeated several times, to facilitate the extraction of all mucilage from the drug. The collected colloids are subjected to alternating phases of freezing and heating; with each freezing the water physically separates from the mucilage, forming a layer of ice and leaving the heteropolysaccharides increasingly devoid of the aqueous fraction. These steps precede the last phase of actual drying, albeit mild (maximum at 30-35 ° C), where the last residues of water are removed; thus the so-called raw agar is obtained.
Raw agar: brittle, dry-fractured, yellowish-white, mucilaginous, odor-free plates. It is an agar marketed in sheets, before undergoing the final processing and possibly pulverized (the powder form is the most commonly used to re-enter the culture media).
Agar has a very broad use profile: it is used in the food industry to preserve canned meat and for the clarification of beverages; caragheinans, heteropolysaccharides deriving from the caraghein genus, are used in cosmetic products as consistency factors.
Agar in aqueous solution has particular properties: it is not very soluble in cold water, while it is very soluble in hot water; once cooled, it causes the solution to gel. Depending on the quantity of agar added to the product and the temperatures of use. , you will get a product with a more or less solid consistency.
Other articles on "Carbohydrate Drugs:" Agar "
- Glycoside drugs
- Pharmacognosy
- Primary metabolism and secondary metabolism of a plant