DL-Glyceraldehyde

Glyceraldehyde is produced from the action of the enzyme glyceraldehyde dehydrogenase which converts glycerol to glyceraldehyde using NADP as a cofactor. When present at sufficiently high levels glyceraldehyde can be a cytotoxin and a mutagen. A cytotoxin is a compound that kills cells. A mutagen is a compound that causes mutations in DNA. Glyceraldehyde is a highly reactive compound that can modify and cross-link proteins. Glyceraldehyde-modified proteins appear to be cytotoxic depress intracellular glutathione levels and induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) production (PMID: 14981296) . Glyceraldehyde has been shown to cause chromosome damage to human cells in culture and is mutagenic in the Ames bacterial test.