Mannitol can also be used to temporarily encapsulate a sharp object (such as a helix on a lead for an artificial pacemaker) while it passes through the venous system. Because the mannitol dissolves readily in blood, the sharp point becomes exposed at its destination. Mannitol is also the first drug of choice to treat acute glaucoma in veterinary medicine. It is administered as a 20% solution intravenously. It dehydrates the vitreous humor and, therefore, lowers the intraocular pressure. However, it requires an intact blood-ocular barrier to work. Food
Mannitol increases blood glucose to a lesser extent than sucrose (thus having a relatively low glycemic index) so is used as a sweetener for people with diabetes, and in chewing gums. Although mannitol has a higher heat of solution than most sugar alcohols, its comparatively low solubility reduces the cooling effect usually found in mint candies and gums. However, when mannitol is completely dissolved in a product, it induces a strong cooling effect. Also, it has a very low hygroscopicity – it does not pick up water from the air until the humidity level is 98%. This makes mannitol very useful as a coating for hard candies, dried fruits, and chewing gums, and it is often included as an ingredient in candies and chewing gum. The pleasant taste and mouthfeel of mannitol also makes it a popular excipient for chewable tablets. Analytical chemistry
Mannitol can be used to form a complex with boric acid.
Sucrose is simply hydrolyzed into an invert sugar syrup, which contains about 50% fructose. In both cases, the syrups are chromatographically purified to contain 90–95% fructose. The fructose is then hydrogenated over a nickel catalyst into a mixture of isomers sorbitol and mannitol. Yield is typically 50%:50%, although slightly alkaline reaction conditions can slightly increase mannitol yields. Biosyntheses
Mannitol is one of the most abundant energy and carbon storage molecules in nature, produced by a plethora of organisms, including bacteria, yeasts, fungi, algae, lichens, and many plants. Fermentation by microorganisms is an alternative to the traditional industrial synthesis. A fructose to mannitol metabolic pathway, known as the mannitol cycle in fungi, has been discovered in a type of red algae (Caloglossa leprieurii), and it is highly possible that other microorganisms employ similar such pathways. A class of lactic acid bacteria, labeled heterofermentive because of their multiple fermentation pathways, convert either three fructose molecules or two fructose and one glucose molecule into two mannitol molecules, and one molecule each of lactic acid, acetic acid, and carbon dioxide. Feedstock syrups containing medium to large concentrations of fructose (for example, cashew apple juice, containing 55% fructose: 45% glucose) can produce yields 200 g (7.1 oz) mannitol per liter of feedstock. Further research is being conducted, studying ways to engineer even more efficient mannitol pathways in lactic acid bacteria, as well as the use of other microorganisms such as yeast and E. coli in mannitol production.