Role of Lactulose in Living Organisms

Lactulose is a synthetic disaccharide containing galactose and fructose molecules, which is chemically similar to lactose. Lactulose is not digested and absorbed in the gut, while improves gut health by promoting the growth of beneficial flora for example bifidobacteria and lactic acid bacteria. Lactulose is decomposed by bacteria into organic acids (for example, acetic acid, propionic acid, and lactic acid) when it enters the colon, which can regulate the intestinal acid-base balance, increase the acidic environment, and reduce the growth of harmful bacteria. Due to its special physical and chemical properties, lactulose can be applied in the medical field as a mild laxative and bowel regulator for the treatment of constipation or other problems related to intestinal dysfunction. Moreover, it can also be applied in the treatment of certain liver diseases, which can help reduce the concentration of ammonia in the blood and improve liver function.

Fig.1 Basic structure of lactose and lactulose. (Silveira, et al., 2015)

Featured Lactulose Analysis Services at CD BioGlyco

• Enzyme Method
  The methods are divided into Isoenzymatic method and fast enzymatic method by enzyme addition amount and incubation temperature.
  
  • Lactulose is hydrolyzed into monosaccharides by β-galactosidase.
  • Monosaccharides are catalyzed by glucose oxidase to generate peroxide.
  • Peroxide reacts with certain substrates to produce a measurable fluorescent signal.
  • The content of lactulose is calculated by measuring the signal strength.
• High-performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
  HPLC detects a variety of sugars at the same time, which has the characteristics of high detection efficiency, good sensitivity, and easy operation. The detectors mainly include differential refractive index detector (RID), evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD), and pulsed amperometric detector (PAD).
• Ion Chromatography (IC)
  Lactulose and ionic components of the column are retained through ion exchange, so it is key to control the ionization state of the target sample in alkaline/acidic solutions.
• Gas Chromatography (GC)
  It is a method with high sensitivity and high accuracy. Lactulose is needed to make volatile derivatives before being analyzed by GC.
• Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Technology

Fig.2 Featured lactulose analysis services. (CD BioGlyco)

Publication

Paper Title: Simultaneous determination of lactulose and lactose in conserved milk by HPLC-RID

Technology: HPLC-RID

Journal: Journal of Chemistry

IF: 3.0

Published: 2015

Results: The author used HPLC-RID to simultaneously determine the lactulose and lactose contents of dairy products, and used the protein precipitation method to pretreat the milk samples. Prevail Carborather ES was used as the chromatographic column, acetonitrile: water as the mobile phase, and isocratic HPLC analysis was performed under the conditions. The results showed that the retention times of lactulose and lactose in milk were 13.6 and 17.2 minutes respectively, they were completely separated, the method was sensitive and stable, and the precision was good.

Fig.3 Lactose-lactulose chromatogram by HPLC-RID. (Silveira, et al., 2015)

Applications

• Food Industry: Lactulose analysis helps to detect the possible presence of lactulose additives or contaminants in food, which is significant for determining product quality, formulation development, and regulatory compliance.
• Nutritional study: Lactulose analysis has potential applications in nutritional study. By measuring the amount of lactulose ingested or metabolized by the human body, intestinal health, probiotic growth, and related metabolic processes are evaluated.
• Clinical research: It is used to determine the content of lactulose in urine or blood in clinical laboratories, which is commonly used in bowel function studies, breath hydrogen testing, and other related studies.

Advantages

• CD BioGlyco has the experience and capability to perform lactulose analysis on samples from different sources and types, such as food, pharmaceuticals, biological samples, etc.
• We have advanced chromatography, MS, and other analytical equipment, that carry out high-precision and efficient lactulose analysis.
• Our scientists master a variety of lactulose analysis methods and technologies to meet the analysis of different sample types and needs.

CD BioGlyco provides fast and accurate lactulose analysis services for our clients. At the same time, our experts accurately interpret the lactulose analysis results and provide clear and detailed reports to help clients understand and apply the analysis data. If you choose us to be your partner, we will provide the best sugar analysis services. Please feel free to contact us for more details.

References:

1. Silveira, M.F.; et al. Simultaneous determination of lactulose and lactose in conserved milk by HPLC-RID. Journal of Chemistry. 2015.
2. Sun, P.; et al. Determination of lactulose content in liquid milk by high-performance liquid chromatography-evaporative light scattering. Journal of Analysis and Testing. 2021, 40(09): 1391-1395.