Use of accurate mass full scan mass spectrometry for the analysis of anthocyanins in berries and berry-fed tissues.

Journal article

Anthocyanins in extracts from raspberries and blueberries were analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC coupled to a high-resolution Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer (HR-MS) with a resolution of 100,000, operated with an electrospray source in the positive ionization mode. As consumption of anthocyanin-rich berry extracts has been associated with improved cognitive function, brain extracts from European greenfinches ( Carduelis chloris ) that had been fed one blackberry daily for a period of 2 weeks were analyzed by both HPLC with traditional tandem MS in the selected reaction monitoring mode and HPLC-HR-MS. Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside was detected in the brain extracts by both methods, but because of its high level of selectivity, HR-MS was ca. 200-fold more sensitive. A further advantage of HR-MS is that unlike MS-SRM it enables both targeted and nontargeted compounds to be detected and much lower limits of detection are achieved without compromising the selectivity of the analysis.

Authors: Mullen, W; Larcombe, S; Arnold, K; Welchman, H; Crozier, A

• Journal: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry
• Volume: 58
• Issue: 7
• Pages: 3910-3915
• Publication date: 2010-04-01
• DOI: 10.1021/jf902267v
• EISSN: 1520-5118
• ISSN: 0021-8561
• Language: English
• Keywords: Animals; Anthocyanins; Mass Spectrometry; Plant Extracts; Birds; Brain Chemistry; Fruit