Trends in analysis of vitamin B12

One of the most important molecules in food and medicine is vitamin B12, the only naturally gifted biomolecule with a carbon– metal bond. Vitamin B12 came into existence in the scientific world during the early 1920s, and scientific research has culminated in a number of Nobel prizes for discoveries concerning liver therapy in the case of anemia by Minot in 1934 [1] and determinations by X-ray techniques by Hodgkin and coworkers in 1956 [2]. Natural forms of vitamin B12 are hydroxylcobalamin (OH-Cbl), 5-deoxyadenosylcobalamin (Ado-Cbl), methylcobalamin (Me-Cbl), and commercially known cyanocobalamin (CN-Cbl), which is a stable form generated during the extraction procedure. Vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient for the maintenance of myelin sheath surrounding nerve cells in humans [3] that promotes growth, cell development, and fat and carbohydrate metabolism and is essential for the rapid synthesis of DNA during cell division, particularly the bone marrow tissue responsible for red blood cell (RBC) formation [4]. Me-Cbl and Ado-Cbl act as a cofactor for the enzymes methionine synthase and methyl malonyl coenzyme A (CoA) mutase. Vitamin B12 deficiency may lead to megaloblasts (i.e., abnormal cell growth that results in anemia); symptoms include excessive tiredness, breathlessness, listlessness, and poor resistance to infection. Prolonged deficiency leads to nerve degeneration and irreversible neurological damage [5]. Causes of deficiency may include nutritional imbalance (among vegetarians), malabsorption syndromes, and other gastrointestinal problems [6]. The major sources of vitaminB12 are liver,milk,meat, eggs, fish, oysters, and clams.Under certain conditions, intestinal microorganisms may synthesize