So far, it has not been found that germanium is an essential trace element for human body, nor has it been found that organisms are diseased due to lack of germanium, so it is not necessary to supplement germanium under normal circumstances, because the germanium ingested by human body in normal diet is enough. At present, it is found that the beneficial biological effects of germanium are closely related to the existing forms, and it seems that there is no obvious physiological activity. Only some organic germanium compounds can show certain physiological activities.
Distribution and metabolism of germanium in the body
All kinds of natural foods contain germanium to varying degrees, and the daily intake of germanium for adults is about 400-3500ug. Therefore, germanium is ubiquitous in the body, and some enzyme proteins in the body, the cortex and gray matter of the brain all contain trace element germanium.
Second, organic germanium compounds with physiological activity
The most studied organogermanium compounds include organogermanium sesquioxides, derivatives and sulfur-containing coordination organogermanium compounds, and their physiological activities are the most obvious.
Third, the relationship between organic germanium compounds and tumors
Organic germanium 132 and spirogermanium have obvious anti-tumor activity and low toxicity, especially no bone marrow toxicity. They have great potential in preventing and treating tumors and assisting radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and have entered the clinical trial stage.
The possible mechanisms of organogermanium compounds inhibiting tumor activity include enhancing immunity, scavenging free radicals and resisting mutation. In many bioactive organic germanium compounds, strongly electronegative atoms such as oxygen, sulfur and nitrogen are usually coordinated with germanium atoms. Because they absorb electrons, the electron clouds around germanium atoms deviate from the nucleus and form a positive center. When organic germanium compounds meet tumor cells, its normal center can increase the potential energy of tumor cells and reduce their activity, thus playing a role in inhibiting and killing tumor cells, that is to say, organic germanium compounds inhibit tumor activity.
In addition to anti-tumor and immune resuscitation, germanium is also beneficial to biological effects, including stimulating hematopoietic system function, inhibiting cell growth, promoting antibacterial disappearance, and promoting plant growth. The effect on the blood system is mainly manifested in stimulating the increase of the number of red blood cells and hemoglobin in the blood, which has a certain effect on the treatment of anemia.
Distribution of germanium
1886 In February, German chemist Winkler made a report on the discovery of germanium to the German Chemical Society, and named this element germanium to commemorate his native Germany. The following year, he synthesized the first organic germanium compound-tetraethyl germanium. Unfortunately, little progress was made in the next half century. Until the 1930s, due to the development of smelting industry, research on germanium and germanium compounds made progress. Since the 1970s, the discovery of organic germanium's medical functions, such as cancer prevention, blood pressure reduction and anti-inflammation, combined with its extremely low toxicity, has made continuous progress in health care, attracting the attention of chemists, medical professionals and food nutritionists, and the research of scientists from various countries is increasing day by day.
The content of germanium in the crust is 0.0007%, which is higher than that of gold, silver and platinum. Because of the scattered resources and difficult smelting, it belongs to the category of rare elements. The distribution of germanium in the lithosphere (mg/kg) is 2 for granite, 1.6 for basalt, 1 for soil, 2 for shale, 0.3 1 for limestone and 1.2 for sandstone. Seawater is 0.00005 mg/kg. In the atmosphere, the germanium content is 3ug/m3. The average content of germanium in polluted air in Europe is 2.8 μ g/m3. The germanium content in air dust in London area is 1-28mg/kg. In the biosphere, the content of germanium is (mg/kg): 1-2.4 for old plants, 0. 14 for mammalian muscles and 0.3 for marine fish. Except GeH4, it is almost nontoxic.
Germanium is widely distributed in nature. Schroeder and others believe that germanium exists where there are organisms in nature. Urbrain extracted germanium from sphalerite in 19 1 1 year after Winkler discovered germanium from sulfur-silver-germanium ore (4Ag2S). 19 16 When mining sphalerite in Buchanan, the by-product germanium was obtained. The main product is GeO2. The content is 0.25%. 1929, TacobPapish discovered germanium in natural copper mines (chalcopyrite and stibnite-silver copper mine). 1987, the fourth brigade of Jiangsu Geology in China discovered a silver mine near Suzhou. The nearby mineral water contains germanium, on the contrary, the nearby mineral water containing germanium can indicate the existence of silver-germanium deposits. Mineral water containing germanium has been detected in Zhejiang, Hunan and Shanxi provinces.
There is trace germanium in drinking water. 19 14 Bardet measured germanium in drinking water in Vichy, France, which attracted worldwide attention. There are many reports that both animals and humans contain germanium. 1968 Mladenor found germanium in honey from Bulgaria. Someone found germanium in the panda. 198 1 year, KjellirKig found germanium in cerebrospinal fluid of normal people. Voinar also reported that germanium is contained in the cortex and gray matter of human brain and calf, and found that many enzymes in organisms contain germanium, such as guanosine, cytochrome oxidase and carbonic anhydrase. Underwood detected germanium in the liver, kidney, heart and spleen of experimental mice. A similar conclusion was reached in the mouse control experiment. Germanium exists in bones, liver and heart. The content is 0.4-7.4 μ g/m2. It can be seen that germanium is not only widely distributed in minerals, soil and atmosphere, but also exists in animals and human beings.
Germanium exists more widely in plants. Many daily foods and Chinese herbal medicines contain germanium, some of which are still very high. Some geochemists believe that the medicinal activities of many Chinese herbal medicines may be related to trace elements, which are absorbed from local soil and air.
All kinds of natural foods contain germanium to varying degrees. The daily intake of germanium for adults is about 400-3500Mg, so germanium is everywhere in the body. Some enzyme proteins in the body (such as guanosine, cytochrome, etc. ), the cortex and gray matter in the brain contain trace amounts of germanium. Germanium also exists in subcellular components, such as cell walls, mitochondria, chromosomes, vesicles and lysosomes. Germanium content in some tissues and organs of human body is (ppm), blood is 0.2, hair is 2.2(0.9-3.7), kidney is 9. 1, liver is 0.04, muscle is 0.03, nail is 0.48- 10.8, and red blood cell is 650.
Germanium has no selectivity to various tissues when it enters the body, and can be distributed in various organs, mainly liver, lung, kidney and spleen. Finally, it is quickly excreted through sweat, feces and urine, and most of it is excreted through kidneys and urine.
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