Enzymatic determination of biogenic amines with transglutaminase

Tyramine, histamine, putrescine and cadaverine, the most common biogenic amines indicating the food quality, were studied in the transglutaminase-catalyzed reaction. Transglutaminase (protein-glutamine gamma-glutamyltransferase EC 2.3.2.13) catalyzes an acyl transfer reaction between a donor substrate and an acceptor substrate (e.g. biogenic amine) and forms a cross-linkage between substrates with a release of ammonia. The reaction can be monitored by measuring the ammonia produced in the reaction. The concentration of produced ammonia was found to be proportional to the concentration of biogenic amine and could hence be used to determination of biogenic amines in food matrixes.     

Determination of volatile biogenic amines in muscle food products by ion mobility spectrometry

The extent of spoilage of muscle food products was determined through measurement of volatile biogenic amines that emanated from food samples. The release of the amines was enhanced by addition of a few drops of an alkaline solution and the amines were monitored by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). The limit of detection of the method for trimethylamine (TMA) was 2 ng and the measurement was completed within <2 min with short and long term reproducibility of 15 and 25%, respectively, for replicate samples. The method provides qualitative information as it distinguishes between different amines, as well as quantitative data for the key compounds. A good correlation was found between the IMS results and the microorganism populations in microbiological cultures. The effects of storage time and temperature and of the type of meat on the formation of biogenic amines were examined, and as expected, the higher the storage temperature the faster the spoilage. Thus, this pilot study shows that the measurement of biogenic amines can serve as an indicator for food spoilage or freshness.     

An Electrochemical Flow Analysis System for Putrescine Using Immobilized Putrescine Oxidase and Horseradish Peroxidase

An electrochemical flow analysis system was optimized together with immobilized putrescine oxidase and horseradish peroxidase for putrescine measurement. Four coupling agents, suberic acid bis(N‐hydroxysuccinimide ester), γ‐maleimidobutyric N‐hydroxysuccinimide ester, 1‐ethyl‐3‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide and glutaraldehyde, were used for immobilizing the two enzymes on porous aminopropyl glass beads to form a bienzymic detection column. Although the glutaraldehyde crosslinking procedure offered the highest response, the immobilized bienzyme system was responsive to putrescine, spermidine (123% of the putrescine response at 250 μM) and cadaverine (98% of the putrescine response). In contrast, the enzymes immobilized on the glass beads using suberic acid bis(N‐hydroxysuccinimide ester) offered significantly better selectivity towards putrescine at the same concentration. For comparison, cadaverine and spermidine only provoked a response of 4.7% and 27.5% of the putrescine signal. The response to cadaverine and spermidine was further suppressed by lowering the detection pH from 8 to 7. At 250 μM, the response obtained for cadaverine and spermidine was only 1.5% and 3.9%, respectively, of the signal obtained for putrescine. A linear response to putrescine was obtained from 5 to 75 μM (0.629 μAs μM^?1, R²=0.997) with a detection limit of 5 μM (S/N=3). The amperometric response retained 75% of its initial value after 600 repeated injections. The immobilized PUO/HRP (putrescine oxidase/horseradish peroxidase) was successfully demonstrated for measuring putrescine in fish extracts as an indicator of fish spoilage.     

CE–LIF determination of salivary cadaverine and lysine concentration ratio as an indicator of lysine decarboxylase enzyme activity

Salivary bacteria produce the enzyme lysine decarboxylase which converts lysine to cadaverine. In the absence of appropriate oral hygiene, overgrowth of these bacteria depletes lysine. This may contribute to gingival inflammation, while cadaverine contributes to oral malodor. A selective and sensitive capillary electrophoresis method with laser-induced fluorescence detection has been developed for the determination of cadaverine and lysine in saliva, as an indicator of lysine decarboxylase enzyme activity. The diamino compounds were separated in acidic background electrolyte in their mono-labeled form after derivatization with 4-fluoro-7-nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-F). Linearity and reproducibility of the method in the range 1–50 μmol L⁻¹ have been demonstrated using saliva samples. The method was applied for the measurement of cadaverine and lysine in the saliva of healthy volunteers with or without proper oral hygiene. In the absence of oral hygiene, the mol fraction of cadaverine to cadaverine plus lysine in saliva increased significantly (0.65 ± 0.13 vs. 0.39 ± 0.18, P < 0.001), indicating the presence of higher amount of bacterial lysine decarboxylase, that may contribute to periodontal diseases.     

Optimising cell temperature and dispersion field strength for the screening for putrescine and cadaverine with thermal desorption-gas chromatography-differential mobility spectrometry

Biogenic amines, and putrescine and cadaverine in particular, have significant importance in the area of food quality monitoring, and are also potentially important markers of infection, for cancer, diabetes, arthritis and cystic fibrosis. A thermal desorption-gas chromatograph-heated differential mobility spectrometer was constructed and the significant effect of interactions between cell temperature and dispersion field strength on the observed responses studied. The experiment design was a Box-Wilson central composite design (CCD) over the levels of 10-24 kV cm⁻¹ for dispersion field strength and 100-130 °C for cell temperature. The optimum values were estimated to be 16.22 kV cm⁻¹ and 116 °C for putrescine and 14.78 kV cm⁻¹ and 112 °C for cadaverine, respectively with an ammonia dopant at 19 mg m⁻³.An amine test atmosphere generator was constructed and produced stable concentrations of putrescine (7 mg m⁻³) and cadaverine (4 mg m⁻³) vapours at 50 ± 0.5 °C. Tenax TA-Carbotrap adsorbent tubes were used to sample putrescine and cadaverine vapour standards and a linear response function over the range of sample masses 5-20 ng was obtained at 15.0 kV cm⁻¹ 115 °C, with a R² of 0.99 for both putrescine and cadaverine. The sample mass at the limit of detection was estimated to be 3 ng for putrescine and cadaverine. Preliminary data from sampling the headspace of chicken meat revealed a 62% increase in the recovered masses of putrescine from 0.84 to 1.36 ng in the sampled air.     

Determination of histamine and some other amines by high-performance capillary electrophoresis with on-line mode in-capillary derivatization

We have developed a method for the determination of histamine (His), tyramine (Tyr) and cadaverine (Cad) using high-performance capillary electrophoresis with fluorescence detection and an on-line mode in-capillary derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde (OPA)/N-acetylcysteine (NAC) as derivatization reagent. HPCE separation of His, Tyr, Cad and Spermidine (Spd) was influenced by sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and phosphate–borate buffer (pH 10) concentration. After optimization of the method, a 4-component amine solution containing His, Tyr, Cad and Spd could be separated and detected by using 2 mM OPA/NAC–20 mM SDS–20 mM phosphate–borate buffer (pH 10) as a run buffer at an applied voltage of 25 kV, with detection at 340 nm. Although a practical sensitivity level can be obtained by using fluorescence detection (λ_ex=340 nm, λ_em=450 nm) instead of ultraviolet–visible detection, Spd was not detected at all. The precision (relative standard deviation; n=15) of this method for within- and between-days is less than 2.9% (peak area) and 1.3% (migration time), respectively. Linearity for these analytes, except for Spd, was established over a concentration range of 0.02 to 1.00 μmol/ml and detection limits (S/N=3) range from 1 nmol/ml for His and Tyr to 5 nmol/ml for Cad. The determination of His and some amines in aging raw fish meat samples (room temperature, 48 h) was carried out using the described method with fluorescence detection.     

Development of non-aqueous single stage derivatisation method for the determination of putrescine and cadaverine using GC-MS

A single step derivatisation for the determination of putrescine and cadaverine by gas chromatography using trifluoroacetylacetone (TFAA) in methanol or ethanol was studied and optimised. The derivatives were analysed by an iontrap gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) operating with electron impact ionisation with selective ion storage (EI-SIS) mode. The optimised mole ratios for TFAA/putrescine and TFAA/cadaverine reactions were 5/1 and 5.8/1 respectively with a reaction time of 15 minutes at 95oC. The retention times for the derivatised putrescine and cadaverine were 11.3 and 12.2 minutes respectively using the capillary column, CP-Sil 8CB; 30 m length x 0.25 mm i.d. x 0.25 mm film. The correlation coefficients (R²) of calibration curves for putrescine and cadaverine were 0.991 and 0.990 respectively over a concentration range of 100 ng cm⁻³ to 1500 ng cm⁻³. The method developed was found to be simple (single-stage derivatisation), rapid (15 minutes derivatisation & 14 minutes GC/MS run) and accurate (putrescine and cadaverine recoveries 94.8%–97.7%).      

离子色谱法测定水中的腐胺、尸胺和组胺

建立了离子色谱法快速测定水中腐胺、尸胺和组胺的方法, 考察了淋洗液条件、干扰离子对实验的影响, 优化了分离条件, 进行了方法学评估. 实验结果表明: 3种物质可以在9 min内达到基线分离, 腐胺和尸胺在1.0～20.0 mg/L、组胺在1.0～100.0 mg/L的浓度范围内, 峰面积和浓度之间线性关系良好, 保留时间的RSD＜0.01%, 峰高的RSD＜2.32%, 峰面积的RSD＜2.08%, 回收率在92.0%～107.4%之间. 本方法适用于水中腐胺、尸胺和组胺的测定.     

Determination of Underivatized Polyamines: A Review of Analytical Methods and Applications

Putrescine, cadaverine, spermidine, and spermine are ubiquitous polyamines that are essentially found in diverse organisms (e.g., bacteria, fungi), animals, and higher plants. Analysis of these analytes is traditionally performed either by chromatographic or electrophoretic techniques. The majority of assays employ liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection either with pre-column or post-column derivatization. However, the derivatization procedures have several disadvantages to the whole analytical process. This article describes the analytical method developments in the determination of underivatized polyamines. This includes flow injection analysis, high performance liquid chromatography (using conductivity, condensation nucleation light scattering, chemiluminescence, indirect fluorescence, and mass spectrometric detection) and electromigration methods. The reported systems are essentially based on the work developed by the authors since 1995. A comparison of the methods highlighting their main advantages and disadvantages and sensitivity was also provided. The most promising system seems to be the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric due to its high sensitivity and specificity.