Naphthoquinone derivatives (vitamins of group K)

Derivatives of naphthoquinone (vitamins of group K) . Vitamin K is widely distributed in the plant world, especially in the green part of plants - grass, leafy vegetables, cereals, etc. In the leaves of spinach, color, white cabbage, mustard, nettle, alfalfa, carrots, green tomatoes, green peas, hemp, and Needles is phylloquinone - vitamin K, formed in the greenery of plants - chloroplasts - a light oily substance. Phylloquinone is rich in black currant, mountain ash and blackberry, sea-buckthorn, rosehip. It is also found in strawberries, raspberries, currants red and white, gooseberries, irge, hawthorn.

Vitamin K1 in fruits and roots is much less than in leaves of plants. Vitamin K2 is produced by the microflora of the human colon. This is a light yellow crystalline substance. Vitamins K1 and K2 are derivatives of naphthoquinone, insoluble in water, dissolved in oils and organic solvents. Vitamin K2 is isolated from fish meal. The complex of vitamin K is formed by many useful bacteria, for example, E. coli, some of it is contained in animal products - pork liver, milk, eggs, flour from rotting and fresh fish, microorganisms. Vitamin K is resistant to heat and reducing agents, quickly destroyed by exposure to sunlight and oxidants.

The daily need for vitamin K to a healthy person is 0.3-10 mg, the newborn is 10-15 mg. The product of the vital activity of bacteria, including those contained in the intestines of animals and humans, is vitamin K3 - menaquinone. Natural vitamins of group K enter the body with plant food and are partially synthesized by the intestinal microflora. Vitamin is absorbed with the help of bile. Phylloquinone and menaquinone are antihemorrhagic substances necessary for the body for normal blood clotting. It is believed that they are used in the liver to form prothrombin, stimulate the formation of other components involved in blood clotting, especially fibrinogen.

It is established that vitamin K promotes the regeneration of tissues, takes part in respiration of all cells and intracellular metabolism, has analgesic properties, increases the contraction and peristalsis of the gastrointestinal tract. The obtained synthetic preparations - analogues of vitamin K, have a less complex structure ( with the preservation of the main naphthoquinone nucleus of the natural vitamin), are characterized by higher activity.

Vikasol - white with a yellowish tinge crystalline powder odorless , easily soluble in water, hard - in alcohol. Vikasol is a specific remedy for bleeding associated with a decreased content of prothrombin in the blood ( hypoprothrombinemia ). The drug is able in a number of cases to increase blood coagulability and with a normal prothrombin content. Apply vikasol for jaundice, delayed entry of bile into the intestine, acute hepatitis, parenchymal, capillary, nasal, pulmonary ( tuberculosis ), uterine, juvenile, areclimacteric, hemorrhoidal, ulcerative ( peptic ulcer and duodenal ulcer ) bleeding, with thrombopenic purpura, septic diseases , Accompanied by hemorrhagic phenomena, severe radiation sickness, etc. The drug is administered orally and intramuscularly.

Contraindicated vikasol with increased blood clotting and thromboembolism. Vitamin K is called an antihemorrhagic, or coagulation vitamin, as it takes part in the formation of prothrombin and promotes normal blood clotting. In the absence or deficiency in the body of vitamin K, hemorrhagic phenomena develop. Hypovitaminosis or K-avitaminosis are observed more often with obstructive jaundice ( gallstones, neoplasms, narrowing of the bile duct, etc. ), gall bladder fistulae, various diseases of the liver parenchyma ( acute hepatitis , acute yellow atrophy ). The cause of K-hypovitaminosis and K-avitaminosis can also be diseases accompanied by a violation of the absorption of fats by the intestinal wall ( diarrhea, ulcerative colitis, dysentery, pancreas diseases, sprue ).

The early sign of hypovitaminosis K is a decrease in the amount of prothrombin (hypoprothrombinemia). As a remedy, vitamin K is successfully used in certain liver diseases ( acute hepatitis , jaundice ), lungs, intestines, hemorrhoids, especially with pulmonary and gastrointestinal hemorrhages, hemorrhagic diathesis in newborns, in surgical and dental practice, as well as burns, frostbite, Radiation sickness, stomach ulcer. Deficiency of vitamins of group K in the body causes a decrease in the formation of prothrombin, a slowdown in the coagulation of blood, and hemorrhage. Vitamin K1 - phylloquinone - has a coagulating, antibacterial, antimicrobial, analgesic, hemostatic, wound-healing effect. In the form of preparations, vitamins of the K group are not used in medicine.