600-15-7

ChEBI: A hydroxybutyric acid having a single hydroxyl group located at position 2; urinary secretion of 2-hydroxybutyric acid is increased with alcohol ingestion or vigorous physical exercise and is associated with lactic acidosis and ketoacidosis in humans and d abetes in animals.

2-Hydroxybutyric acid (or alpha - hydroxy butyrate) is a hydroxy butyric acid with the hydroxyl group on the carbon adjacent to the carboxyl. It is a chiral compound having two enantiomers, D-2- hydroxybutyric acid and L-2-hydroxybutyric acid.
2-Hydroxy butyrate, the conjugate base of 2-hydroxy butyric acid, is produced in mammalian tissues (principally hepatic) that catabolize L-threonine or synthesize glutathione. Oxidative stress or detoxification demands can dramatically increase the rate of hepatic glutathione synthesis. Under such metabolic stress conditions, supplies of L-cysteine for glutathione synthesis become limiting, so homocysteine is diverted from the transmethylation pathway forming methionine into the transsulfuration pathway forming cystathionine. 2-Hydroxybutyrate is released as a byproduct when cystathionine is cleaved to cysteine that is incorporated into glutathione. Chronic shifts in the rate of glutathione synthesis may be reflected by urinary excretion of 2-hydroxybutyrate.

2-Hydroxybutanoic Acid is an analyte used in the diagnoses of colorectal cancer as well as Type II diabetes. It is also used in the purification of the major Vibrio autoinducer and the study of its role in virulence factor production for cholera.

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