Optimization of an extraction procedure for the simultaneous quantification of riboflavin, nicotinamide and nicotinic acid in anchovies ( Engraulis enrasicolus ) by high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

A novel automated multi-cycle magnetic solid-phase extraction coupled to LC-MS/MS to study the disorders of six functional B vitamins in patients with gastroenterology and hyperhomocysteinemia

B vitamins are essential for human life and their disorders can cause a variety of diseases. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled to LC-MS/MS is a preferred technique for determining multiple B vitamins, however, their complexity in real biological matrices makes it hard to achieve satisfactory recovery and accuracy when simultaneous detection. In this study, a novel automated multi-cycle magnetic SPE (MSPE) coupled to the LC-MS/MS method was established using a mixed-mode anion exchange magnetic adsorbent for the simultaneous extraction of six functional B vitamins, including methylmalonic acid, riboflavin, pantothenic acid, 4-pyridoxic acid, folic acid, and 5-methyltetrahydrofolate. After three consecutive MSPE cycles, the recoveries of all analytes were between 51.5% and 89.6%. The method exhibited excellent sensitivity and linearity, with a dynamic range of 200-fold (R > 0.99 for all analytes), exceptional accuracy (ranging between 95.4% and 105.6%) and precision (with RSDs ≤ 6.2%) without significant matrix effects or interferences. Compared to manual SPE method, the automated multi-cycle MSPE method has better feasibility and greater vitamin coverage. It shows a high correlation with the manual method for the detection of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate and folate (R > 0.99). A study of patients from the gastroenterology department showed that those undergoing surgery and those with malignancies may be at risk of folate deficiency. In addition, patients with hyperhomocystinemia had higher levels of methylmalonic acid and lower levels of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate, which correlated with homocysteine levels (R = 0.404 and -0.311, respectively) and showed dose-response relationships. This method is highly automated and cost-effective, with minimal systematic error, making it suitable for the analysis of clinical samples.

The Impact of Plasma Activated Water Treatment on the Phenolic Profile, Vitamins Content, Antioxidant and Enzymatic Activities of Rocket-Salad Leaves

Plasma activated water (PAW) recently received much attention as an alternative food preservation method. However, its effects on food quality are still scarce. This study evaluates the effect of PAW processing time on bioactive compounds of rocket-salad leaves including: 18 phenolic compounds, vitamin C, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, and nicotinamide. Moreover, the impact of PAW on both antioxidant (DPPH) and peroxidase (POD) activities was also investigated. This was performed using HPLC-DAD, HPLC-MS/MS, and spectrophotometric analysis. All treatments induced non-significant increases in total phenolic contents. However, depending on processing time, significant increases or decreases of individual phenolic compounds were observed. PAW-10 and -20 increased the ascorbic acid content to 382.76 and 363.14 mg/100 g, respectively, compared to control (337.73 mg/100 g). Riboflavin and nicotinic acid contents were increased significantly in PAW-20 (0.53 and 1.26 mg/100), compared to control (0.32 and 0.61 mg/100 g, respectively). However, nicotinamide showed non-significant increase in all treatments. Antioxidant activity improved significantly only in PAW-20, while peroxidase activity was reduced up to 36% in the longest treatment. In conclusion, PAW treatment could be an effective technique for rocket decontamination since it positively influenced the quality of rocket, improving the retention of polyphenols and vitamins.

Evaluation of pharmacological activities and active components in Tremella aurantialba by instrumental and virtual analyses

As a kind of medicinal and edible homologous fungus, there is a lack of data on the medicinal value of Tremella aurantialba. In this study, ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time of flight-mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) was used to screen the chemical components in T. aurantialba. Then, network pharmacology was used to reveal the potential biological activities, active compounds, and therapeutic targets of T. aurantialba. Finally, the potential binding sites of the active compounds of T. aurantialba and key targets were studied by molecular docking. Results showed that 135 chemical components in T. aurantialba, especially linoleic acid, and linolenic acid have significant biological activities in neuroprotective, anticancer, immune, hypoglycemic, and cardiovascular aspects. The existence of these bioactive natural products in T. aurantialba is consistent with the traditional use of T. aurantialba. Moreover, the five diseases have comorbidity molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets. The molecular docking showed that linolenic acid, adenosine, and vitamin D2 had higher binding energy with RXRA, MAPK1, and JUN, respectively. This study is the first to systematically identify chemical components in T. aurantialba and successfully predict its bioactivity, key active compounds, and drug targets, providing a reliable novel strategy for future research on the bioactivity development and utilization of T. aurantialba.

Coffee silverskin: Characterization of B-vitamins, macronutrients, minerals and phytosterols

The present study assessed the nutritional composition of coffee silverskin (CSS) obtained from arabica roasted coffee. Following validated analytical methods, CSS resulted to be a high source of proteins (14.2 g/100 g) and dietary fibers (51.5 g/100 g). Moreover, the mineral analysis revealed high contents of calcium (1.1 g/100 g) and potassium (1.0 g/100 g). To date, this study provided the widest mineral profile of CSS with 30 minerals targeted including 23 microminerals with high levels of iron (238.0 mg/kg), manganese (46.7 mg/kg), copper (37.9 mg/kg), and zinc (31.9 mg/kg). Moreover, vitamins B₂ (0.18-0.2 mg/kg) and B₃ (2.5-3.1 mg/kg) were studied and reported for the first time in CSS. β-sitosterol (77.1 mg/kg), campesterol, stigmasterol, and Δ5-avenasterol, were also observed from the phytosterol analysis of CSS with a total level of 98.4 mg/kg. This rich nutritional profile highlights the potential values of CSS for innovative reuses in bioactive ingredients development.

Recent Techniques in Nutrient Analysis for Food Composition Database

Food composition database (FCD) provides the nutritional composition of foods. Reliable and up-to date FCD is important in many aspects of nutrition, dietetics, health, food science, biodiversity, plant breeding, food industry, trade and food regulation. FCD has been used extensively in nutrition labelling, nutritional analysis, research, regulation, national food and nutrition policy. The choice of method for the analysis of samples for FCD often depends on detection capability, along with ease of use, speed of analysis and low cost. Sample preparation is the most critical stage in analytical method development. Samples can be prepared using numerous techniques; however it should be applicable for a wide range of analytes and sample matrices. There are quite a number of significant improvements on sample preparation techniques in various food matrices for specific analytes highlighted in the literatures. Improvements on the technology used for the analysis of samples by specific instrumentation could provide an alternative to the analyst to choose for their laboratory requirement. This review provides the reader with an overview of recent techniques that can be used for sample preparation and instrumentation for food analysis which can provide wide options to the analysts in providing data to their FCD.

Recent trends in analytical methods for water-soluble vitamins

In this review, recent advances in the analysis of water-soluble vitamins (WSVs) have been reported considering the advantages and disadvantages of various extraction, separation and detection techniques, commonly used for their quantification. Acid hydrolysis, enzyme treatment, SPE based methods and some other extraction methods have been discussed. Particular attention has been devoted to the analytical techniques based on liquid chromatography and electrophoresis. Furthermore, suitability and selectivity of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) for WSVs has been discussed in detail. Problems related to these techniques and their possible solutions have also been considered. Special focus has been given to the applications of liquid chromatography (since 2014-2019) for the simultaneous analysis of WSVs and their homologous in complex food samples.

A Simplified, Specific HPLC Method of Assaying Thiamine and Riboflavin in Mushrooms

Mushrooms have been used as part of the average diet and as a nutraceutical for thousands of years due to their immense health benefits. The purpose of this study was to develop a simple, fast, accurate, specific, reproducible, and robust chromatographic method to identify and quantify two water-soluble vitamins: thiamine (B1) and riboflavin (B2) in mushrooms. The method employed for qualitative and quantitative analysis of these vitamins was Reversed Phase-High Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-HPLC) equipped with Ultraviolet–Visible (UV-Vis) Detector. The extraction process involved acid hydrolysis followed by enzymatic dephosphorylation with takadiastase enzyme. Chromatographic separation was achieved with a Shimadzu prominence HPLC system using isocratic elution mode on a Waters Xterra® MS C-18 column (4.6mm × 150mm, 5 μm) integrated with a XBridge® BEH C-18 Guard column (2.1mm × 5 mm, 5 μm). The mobile phase of this study consisted of buffer and methanol in the ratio of 80:20, where the buffer contained sodium-1-hexanesulfonate, glacial acetic acid, methanol, and pH adjusted to 3.0 with diethylamine. Vitamins were detected simultaneously at their lambda max wavelengths B1: 245nm and B2: 268nm using dual-wavelength UV detection technique to get their highest response. The proposed method was found to be specific, linear R>1.0, accurate, precise (% recovery ± SD; B1:104.45±4.5 and B2: 104.88±2.04), sensitive, (limit of detection for B1 and B2 was 0.043 and 0.029 μg/mL, respectively), and robust for mushrooms analysis. No coeluting peaks were observed at the retention time of the vitamins and all the peaks were spectrally homogenous. The standard and sample solutions were found to remain stable at cold temperature for 72 hours. In summary, our data suggest that the proposed method could be used in food industries to monitor the product quality during routine quality control purposes.