Pyridoxine

Pyridoxine (vitamin B6) is a form of vitamin B6. Other forms include the aldehyde pyridoxal and the amide pyridoxamine. It is an important cofactor for metabolism.

Vitamin B group are water-soluble and exists in six forms which includes the pyridoxal, pyridoxine, pyridoxamine, pyridoxamine 5′-phospate, pyridoxine 5′-phosphate and pyridoxal 5′-phosphate. Vitamin B₆ is distributed in nuts, whole grains and animal meat.

Pyridoxine has been used as a component of:

• artificial diet for sugarcane aphid pest
• modified Strullu and Romand (MSR) medium for carrot root organ culture
• Luria broth for E coli cultures

Pyridoxine is used in cell culture and other applications as a precursor to pyridoxal phosphate. It has been used as a standard in RP-HPLC (reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography) method. Pyridoxine has been used as a diet supplement to study lipid profile in rats.

Pyridoxine plays a key role in cell maintenance and amino acid metabolism. Deficiency of vitamin B₆ leads to anemia especially in pregnant women and seizures in newborns. It serves as cofactor for heme biosynthesis during δ-amino levulinic acid formation, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transaminase and glutamic acid decarboxylase. Vitamin B₆ also helps in reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging and helps plants in overcoming the abiotic and biotic stress.