Lactic Acid and Pyruvic Acid are byproducts of glycolysis. Carbohydrates, which contain glucose, are broken down through glycolysis to form pyruvate and two ATP molecules. Pyruvate can also be generated through the catabolism of various amino acids, including alanine, serine, cysteine, glycine, tryptophan and threonine. Magnesium is an important cofactor for a number of glycolytic enzymes necessary to produce pyruvate. Optimally, pyruvic acid is oxidized to form Acetyl-CoA to be used aerobically via the Citric Acid Cycle to produce energy. In an anaerobic state, lactic acid is formed instead.
References:
- ieczenik SR, Neustadt J. Mitochondrial dysfunction and molecular pathways of disease. Exp Mol Pathol. 2007;83(1):84-92.
- Depeint F, Bruce WR, Shangari N, Mehta R, O'Brien PJ. Mitochondrial function and toxicity: role of the B vitamin family on mitochondrial energy metabolism. Chemico-biol Interact. 2006;163(1-2):94-112.
- Gray LR, Tompkins SC, Taylor EB. Regulation of pyruvate metabolism and human disease. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2014;71(14):2577-2604.
- Garfinkel L, Garfinkel D. Magnesium regulation of the glycolytic pathway and the enzymes involved. Magnesium. 1985;4(2-3):60- 72.
- Mayes PA, Bender DA. Glycolysis and the oxidation of pyruvate. Harper’s illustrated biochemistry (Eds RK Murray, DK Granner, PA Mayes, VW Rodwell) pp. 2003:136-144.
- Ravindran S, Radke GA, Guest JR, Roche TE. Lipoyl domainbased mechanism for the integrated feedback control of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex by enhancement of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase activity. J Biol Chem. 1996;271(2):653-662.
- Shipman K. Clinical biochemistry: Metabolic and clinical aspects (3rd edn). In: SAGE Publications Sage UK; 2015.
- Tirmenstein MA, Mathias PI, Snawder JE, Wey HE, Toraason M. Antimony-induced alterations in thiol homeostasis and adenine nucleotide status in cultured cardiac myocytes. Toxicology. 1997;119(3):203-211.
- Chapatwala KD, Rajanna B, Desaiah D. Cadmium induced changes in gluconeogenic enzymes in rat kidney and liver. Drug Chem Toxicol. 1980;3(4):407-420.
- Schlecht I, Gronwald W, Behrens G, et al. Visceral adipose tissue but not subcutaneous adipose tissue is associated with urine and serum metabolites. PloS one. 2017;12(4):e0175133.
- Friedrich N, Skaaby T, Pietzner M, et al. Identification of urine metabolites associated with 5-year changes in biomarkers of glucose homoeostasis. Diab Metab. 2017.
- Mostafa H, Amin AM, Teh CH, Murugaiyah V, Arif NH, Ibrahim B. Metabolic phenotyping of urine for discriminating alcoholdependent from social drinkers and alcohol-naive subjects. Drug Alc Depend. 2016;169:80-84.
- Hira HS, Shukla A, Kaur A, Kapoor S. Serum uric acid and lactate levels among patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: which is a better marker of hypoxemia? Ann Saudi Med. 2012;32(1):37-42.
- Nikolaidis S, Kosmidis I, Sougioultzis M, Kabasakalis A, Mougios V. Diurnal variation and reliability of the urine lactate concentration after maximal exercise. Chronobiol Int. 2018;35(1):24-34.
- Tamaki N, Ikeda T, Funatsuka A. Zinc as activating cation for muscle glycolysis. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol. 1983;29(6):655-662.
- Ikeda T, Kimura K, Morioka S, Tamaki N. Inhibitory effects of Zn2+ on muscle glycolysis and their reversal by histidine. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol. 1980;26(4):357-366.
- Kaplan RS, Mayor JA, Blackwell R, Maughon RH, Wilson GL. The effect of insulin supplementation on diabetes-induced alterations in the extractable levels of functional mitochondrial anion transport proteins. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1991;287(2):305-311.
Low levels of pyruvic acid might imply low carbohydrate intake, lack of magnesium cofactors for glycolytic enzymes, or lack of insulin.
Understand and improve your laboratory results with our health dashboard.
Upload your lab reports and get your interpretation today.
Our technology helps to understand, combine, track, organize, and act on your medical lab test results.
An elevated pyruvic acid would reflect an inability to form Acetyl-CoA to feed the Citric Acid Cycle. Pyruvate uses the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex to form Acetyl-CoA. A different enzyme, pyruvate carboxylase, is responsible for the conversion of pyruvate into oxaloacetate. Nutrient cofactors, such as vitamin-B1, B2, B3, B7, magnesium, and lipoate are needed to support the pyruvate dehydrogenase and pyruvate carboxylase enzymes.
Insufficiency in any of these nutrients can raise levels of pyruvic acid. In vitro studies have shown there are some toxins that can also affect these enzymes, such as antimony, mercury, and cadmium.
Pyruvate elevations can also be seen with a high intake of carbohydrates, as well as rare genetic forms of pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency.
Any anerobic or low oxygen state, including pulmonary disease, anemia, sleep apnea, among others can lead to elevations of lactic acid.
Elevations of urinary lactic acid can also be the result of strenuous exercise, insulin resistance, dysglycemia, and alcohol dependence.
Zinc is an essential component in the enzymes which regulate glycolysis, such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). LDH converts lactate back to pyruvate in the liver via the Cori cycle. Elevations may be seen with a functional need for zinc.
Clinical Associations: Pyruvate metabolism abnormalities play important roles in cancer, heart failure, and neurodegeneration.
Interpret Your Lab Results
Upload your lab report, and we'll interpret and provide you with recommendations today.
Get Started
Monthly plan
Annual plan
Own it for life
Our exclusive data entry service is a convenient way to get your results into your private dashboard. Simply attach an image or a file of your lab test results, and one of our qualified data entry team members will add the results for you. We support all sorts of files, whether PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is excellent whether you have a lot of reports to upload or are too busy to do the data entry yourself.
We strive to make the data entry process easy for you. Whether by offering dozens of templates to choose from that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels or by giving you instant feedback on the entered values. Our data entry forms are an easy, fast, and convenient way to enter the reports yourself. There is no limit on how many lab reports you can upload.
$15 /month
billed every month
Most popular
Data entry included
$79 /year
$6.60/month billed annually
Data entry included
$250 /once
own it for life
Are You a Health Professional?
Get started with our professional plan
Welcome to Healthmatters Pro.
Save time on interpreting lab results with the largest database of biomarkers online. In-depth research on any test at your fingertips, all stored and tracked in one place. Learn more
Pro Monthly Plus
for health professionals
$75 per month
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
1-Methyl-Histidine, 2-Amino butyric Acid, 3-Aminoisobutyric Acid, 3-Methyl-Histidine, Asparagine, Benzoic Acid, cis-Aconitic Acid, Citrulline, GABA, Homovanillic Acid, Isoleucine, Lactic Acid, Leucine, Methionine, Proline, S-Adenosylhomocysteine, Serine, Succinic Acid, Threonine, Tryptophan, Valine, Vanillylmandelic Acid
