Phosphatidyl choline (PC) - Brain Fuel for Better brain functioning

Phophatidylcholine (PC) is a fat soluble also known as phospholipids. Phospholipids are essential component of cell membrane. Phophatidylcholine’s major role is maintenance of cell membrane, integrity is very important in all biological processes such as information flow, intracellular communication and bioenergetics. The commercial term PC is used for lecithin, which is referred as supplement rich in phosphatidylcholine. The supplements labeled as lecithin may contain up to 10-20% PC. The pure PC supplements are referred as phosphatidylcholine. Pc accelerates the brain functioning.

Lecithin is a naturally occurring substance found in every cell of a human body like kidney, brain and endocrine glands. It is a mixture of compounds like phospholipids and phosphatides. PC helps in breakdown of fat deposits in body and prevention of atherosclerosis and various heart diseases. It is also essential in liver for the removal of toxic substances from the body. However people affected by hepatitis may find in beneficial. It also helps in prevention of gallstones and improves the functioning of gall bladder.

Phophatidylcholine is a major component of cell membrane and assists in the breakdown of fat in the body. It is a source of choline which is used to synthesize the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Phophatidylcholine is an important source of vitamin B choline, comprises of 15 % of lecithin derived from natural food source. The higher is the concentration of PC in a supplement more expensive it becomes.

There are certain health benefits of Phophatidylcholine which are enumerated as:

Senescence

Phophatidylcholine is a vital component of every cell membrane and is present in the body since the time of birth. At the infancy it is presented in the highest concentration but slowly it starts depleting throughout the course of life and may drop to as low as 10% in an adult. Some researchers have begun recommending it as daily supplement to improve brain functioning and slow down the effect of senescence.

Liver repair

Phophatidylcholine helps in liver repair. It has been studied that PC has healing effect in hepatitis A, B and C. It administers for chronic active hepatitis which has resulted in reduction of disease activity.

Lipolysis

Some organizations promote the use of injected PC, otherwise known as injection lipolysis which serves as an alternative for liposuction.

Ulcerative colitis

It has been clinically observed that Phophatidylcholine can reduce remission in ulcerative colitis patients.

There are several mechanisms for the biosynthesis of phosphatdylcholine in animals, plants and micro organisms. Choline itself is not as such synthesized by animal cells. It must be obtained from dietary sources or by degradation of existing choline containing lipids.

Analysis of Phophatidylcholine presents no particular problem. It is readily isolated by thin layer or high performance liquid chromatography methods. Determination of the dipalmitoyl specie in lung is a more demanding task, but some specific methods have been published. Phospholipase A2 in snake venom is used to determine fatty acid in glycerol. Modern mass spectrometry methodology has greatly simplified the task of molecular  species analysis.