BackgroundRice is the staple food and one of the world’s three major grain crops. Rice contains more than 100 bioactive substances including phytic acid, isovitexin, γ-oryzanol, phytosterols, octacosanol, squalene, γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), tocopherol, tocotrienol derivatives, etc. Out of them, γ-oryzanol is known to have important biological profile such as anti-oxidants, inhibitor of cholesterol oxidation, reduce serum cholesterol levels in animals, effective in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, inhibit tumor growth, reduce blood pressure and promotes food storage stability when used as a food additive, etc. Hence in the present investigation, we aimed to evaluate the content and composition of γ-oryzanol from pigmented rice germplasms using a liquid chromatography with diode array detection and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-ESI/MS).FindingsIn the present study, 33 exotic pigmented rice accessions (red, white and purple) have been evaluated. Among them, the contents of γ-oryzanol varied from 3.5 to 21.0Âmg/100Âg with a mean of 11.2Âmg/100Âg. A total of ten components of γ-oryzanol including ∆7-stigmastenyl ferulate were identified of which, cycloartenyl ferulate, 24-methylenecycloartanyl ferulate, campesteryl ferulate and sitosteryl ferulate were identified as the major components. The mean proportions of steryl ferulates were in the descending order of 24-methylenecycloartanyl ferulate > cycloartenyl ferulate > campesteryl ferulate > sitosteryl ferulate > ∆7-campestenyl ferulate > campestanyl ferulate > sitostanyl ferulate > ∆7-stigmastenyl ferulate > stigamsteryl ferulate > ∆7-sitostenyl ferulate. Almost 11 accessions (33%) showed higher content than the control rice Chucheongbyeo and higher proportions ranged from 10 to 15Âmg/100Âg. Interestingly, the red rice accession Liberian Coll. B11/B-11 (21.0Âmg/100Âg) showed higher content γ-oryzanol than control rice Jeokjinjubyeo (19.1Âmg/100Âg) and the purple rice accession Padi Adong Dumarat, Mardi No.4376 (20.3Âmg/100Âg) showed a similar content with control rice Heugjinjubyeo (21.4Âmg/100Âg).ConclusionsMost of analyzed rice accessions were found to possess higher contents of γ-oryzanol than the control rice, Chucheongbyeo. In particular, the red accessions showed highest content than the white and purple accessions. The content and composition of γ-oryzanol in 33 exotic pigmented rice accessions have been evaluated and compared significantly by the present investigation.

The present investigation intends to evaluate the changes in the content of cis/trans carotene isomers as provitamin A carotenoids by steaming and roasting processes in the roots of four Korean sweet potato varieties viz. Shinzami, Younwhangmi, Chuwhangmi and Jinhongmi using a liquid chromatography with diode array detection and the negative ion atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometric (LC-DAD-APCI/MS) method and UV spectral pattern library created from several reference data. Except Shinzami, the content of all trans β-carotenes was found to slightly decreased or remained constant when steamed or roasted. The content of cis α-/β-carotenes was potentially increased about 2-fold or greater when raw or steamed and the content was slightly decreased while roasted. In Chuwhangmi, the content of 13-cis α-carotene and all trans α-carotenes were rapidly increased when steamed and slightly decreased when roasted. Chuwhangmi exhibited 27.2 mg/100 g DW content of all trans β-carotenes when roasted and thus, it was considered as a relatively superior cultivar.