Stabilization of S-adenosyl-L-methionine promoted by trehalose

S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM), an important metabolic intermediate of mammals, is a well-known therapeutic agent. The molecule is chemically unstable, both in solution and in dry state, and forms different degradation products. Because the chemical instability represents a real problem during the preparation of therapeutic formulations, we investigated the capacity of some sugars to improve the SAM stability over time. In the present work, we demonstrated that the disaccharide trehalose exercises a protective effect towards the lyophilized SAM slackening its degradation (65% of SAM was detected after 50 days at 37degreesC). A parallel study, performed to stabilize the SAM into lyophilized yeast cells enriched in the sulfonium compound, assessed the positive effect of trehalose also in whole cells, but in lesser measure. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V, All rights reserved.