Biotin

Other common names

Vitamin B7, Vitamin H

What is The History of Biotin?

Biotin belongs to the B group of water-soluble vitamins and is involved in converting the food we eat into usable energy to be used by the mitochondria of our cells. Biotin joins together with other enzymes to regulate the breakdown of foods into small bioavailable molecules.

Biotin is not a well-known B vitamin, but it has been studied and trialled since the 1930’s. It was first discovered by scientists researching different diets and feeds for chickens and rats and then was later discovered to be essential for human health and cell life.

We only produce a tiny amount of our own biotin through synthesis in the large bowel by certain bacteria, so most of our biotin must come from the foods we eat on a daily basis. It is found in high concentration in liver, kidney, and brain as well as other tissues.

RECOGNISED TARGETS AND MECHANISMS OF ACTION

Scientists have discovered the reason biotin is so vital to human life – it combines with four enzymes in the gut and cell mitochondria and DNA to regulate different metabolic reactions. These are fundamental to energy creations and building new molecules from small molecules and nutrients.

Biotin is involved in 4 crucial enzyme pathways:

• Forming glucose from fats and amino acids (but not from carbohydrates) to produce ATP.
• Building fatty acids.
• Synthesising leucine, an amino acid necessary for health and activating sirtuin genes.
• Metabolising amino acids, cholesterol, and some fatty acids.

HAIR AND NAIL ACTIVITY

• Upregulates protein synthesis and keratin production contributing to healthy nail and hair growth.
• Plays a unique and vital role in the regulation of chromatin structure, gene cell signalling, epigenetic regulation of genes, and chromatin structure.
• Biotin is required for zinc homeostasis, uptake, and activity in the skin.

CELLULAR ENZYME ACTVITY

• Involved in various regulatory functions such as modifications of histone tails, including acetylation, methylation, phosphorylation, ubiquitination, SUMOylation, ADP-ribosylation, carbonylation, deamination (conversion of arginine into citrulline), hydroxylation, and biotinylation.
• Shown to be enriched in heterochromatin, a tightly condensed chromatin associated with repeat regions in (peri)centromeres and telomeres.
• The biotin-containing enzyme Propionyl-CoA carboxylase produces D-malonyl-CoA from propionyl-CoA, a by-product in the β-oxidation of fatty acids. The conversion of propionyl-CoA to D-malonyl-CoA is also required in the crucial repair and energy producing catabolic pathways of two branched-chain amino acids (isoleucine and valine), methionine, threonine, and the side chain of cholesterol. 
• The biotin-containing enzyme Methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase also catalyses an essential step in the catabolism of leucine, an essential branched-chain amino acid.  
• Biotin functions as a covalently bound cofactor required for the biological activity of the five known mammalian biotin-dependent carboxylases - acetyl-Coenzyme A (CoA) carboxylase 1 (ACC1) and 2 (ACC2), pyruvate-CoA carboxylase, propionyl-CoA carboxylase, and methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase.
• Deficiencies result in disordered activity of biotin-dependent enzymes, pyruvate carboxylase, leading to accumulation of pyruvate and/or depletion of aspartate, both of which play a significant role in nervous system metabolism.
• Modulates hepatic enzyme expression.

DIABETIC ACTIVITY

• Biotin-containing enzyme pyruvate carboxylase is a critical enzyme in gluconeogenesis — the formation of glucose from sources other than carbohydrates, such as pyruvate, lactate, glycerol, and the glucogenic amino acids.
• Biotin-containing pyruvate carboxylase is required for the citric acid cycle and ATP production.
• Influences messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of several transcription factors regulating insulin expression and secretion, including forkhead box A2, pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 and hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α.
• Improves glucose tolerance and glucose-stimulated serum insulin levels, without changes in fasting glucose levels or insulin tolerance.
• Augments the proportion of beta cells by enlarging islet size and increases the percentage of islets with alpha cells at the islet core.
• Increases the expression of genes that are critical for maintaining the differentiated phenotype of the beta cell, preserving beta-cell mass and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion.
• Improves glucose tolerance in patients undergoing haemodialysis.
• Double’s insulin 2 gene expression and increases the expression of glucokinase by approximately 70%.
• Notably increases beta-cell relative volume, enhances beta-cell function, and increases the proportion of beta cells.

CARDIOVASCULAR ACTIVITY

• Pharmacological doses of Biotin decrease plasma lipid concentrations and modify lipid metabolism.

ANTI-AGEING GENE ACTIVITY

• Induces increased expression of GK while suppressing the key gluconeogenic enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase enzyme (PEPCK).
• Down-regulates mRNA expression of FOXO1.
• Opposes hepatic steatosis by down-regulating SREBP-1 expression.
• Has a stimulatory effect on cGMP production.

 

* These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA or TGA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Effect of Biotin supplementation in the diet on insulin secretion, islet gene expression, glucose homeostasis and beta-cell proportion. The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry. 2013; 24(1): 169-177 Lazo de la Vega-Monroy, ML. Larrieta, E. German, MS. Baez-Saldana, A. Fernandez-Mehia

Biotin uptake by mouse and human pancreatic beta cells/ islets: a regulated, lipopolysaccharide-sensitive carrier-mediated process. American Journal of Physiology – Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. 2014; 307(3): 365-373 Ghosal, A, Sekar, TV & Said, HM http://ajpgi. physiology.org/content/307/3/G365

Skin manifestations of biotin deficiency. Author information Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City 52242. Seminars in Dermatology, 01 Dec 1991, 10(4):296-302 PMID: 1764357

Nutrients, 24 Apr 2019, 11(4). Biotin Is Required for the Zinc Homeostasis in the Skin. Ogawa Y1, Kinoshita M1, Sato T1, Shimada S1, Kawamura T1. DOI: 10.3390/nu11040919 PMID: 31022908 PMCID: PMC6520690

Treatment of brittle fingernails with biotin. Floersheim GL, Zeitschrift fur Hautkrankheiten, 01 Jan 1989, 64(1):41-48Languageger. PMID: 2648686

Professor Donald Mock, M.D., Ph.D. Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Pediatrics University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences: BIOTIN. Last updated 10/21/15 Copyright 2000-2021 Linus Pauling Institute

Biomed Pharmacother. 1990;44(10):511-4. doi: 10.1016/0753-3322(90)90171-5. Biotin for diabetic peripheral neuropathy. D Koutsikos 1, B Agroyannis, H Tzanatos-Exarchou. PMID: 2085665 DOI: 10.1016/0753-3322(90)90171-5

J Drugs Dermatology. 2007 Aug;6(8):782-7. Vitamins and minerals: their role in nail health and disease. Noah Scheinfeld 1, Maurice J Dahdah, Richard Scher. PMID: 17763607

Skin Appendage Disorders. 2017 Aug; 3(3): 166–169. Published online 2017 Apr 27. doi: 10.1159/000462981 PMCID: PMC5582478 PMID: 28879195 A Review of the Use of Biotin for Hair Loss. Deepa P. Patel a.b Shane M. Swink, Leslie Castelo-Soccioa