LC-MS/MS Determination of Tropane Alkaloids in Maize Crop

Petrović

et al. 2021

Zb Mat srp prir nauk

Self Cite

The interest in tropane alkaloids (TA) as food contaminants is increasing. A sensitive and selective LC-MS/MS method was applied for the analysis of corn puff samples from the Serbian market. Only atropine was quantified in 22% of the samples. In case of scopolamine, although not quantified, it was detected in 22% of the samples. Whether the acute reference dose (ARfD) could be exceeded was checked on a case-by-case basis for the individual products under assessment. Due to their low body weight and relatively high snack consumption, preschool children were at the highest risk of TA exposure. Assuming that the average consumption is 50 g of corn puffs per day, the sample with the highest concentration of TAs (2.05 ?g/kg, 1.58 ?g/kg of atropine) could contribute with 32.0% to the ARfD, of which 24.7% owing to atropine. If the same amount of corn puffs is consumed by older age classes, corresponding exposure contributions to the ARfD would progressively decline, down to 8.4% for adult population. The study revealed no health risk from TAs exposure through the consumption of the corn puffs in Serbian population.

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Sample Collection and Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determination of tropane alkaloids in corn puffs by the LC-MS/MS

Petrović

et al. 2021

Zb Mat srp prir nauk

Self Cite

“…1). The most intense MRM transitions for atropine m/z 290.2 > 124.2 and scopolamine 304.2 > 138.2 were monitored for the quantification, while the other transitions were used for the confirmation (Vuković et al, 2018;Vuković et al, 2020). Namely, it is possible to establish LOD and LOQ in more ways than one.…”

Section: Methods Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Tropane alkaloids in mint teas at the Serbian market

Petrović

et al. 2021

AGR

Self Cite

The interest in tropane alkaloids as food contaminants has been increasing. The tropane alkaloids are plant toxins that mainly occur in Atropa, Datura and Hyoscyamus sp belonging to the Solanaceae family. A sensitive and selective LC-MS/MS method was applied for the analysis of atropine and scopolamine in the mint tea samples from the Serbian market. Tea, which has beneficial properties thanks to the phenolic compounds, can be accidentally contaminated by many weed seeds which contain the tropane alkaloids during the harvest. Only the tropane alkaloids present in the tea bags before the tea making were analysed. Atropine and scopolamine were detected in 30% of the analysed samples in the concentration above the limit of quantification.

“…The most intense MRM transitions for atropine m/z 290.2 > 124.2 and scopolamine 304.2 > 138.2 were monitored for quantification and the second most intense (other three) transitions were used for the confirmation [15]. The study conducted by Vuković et al [44] pointed out that the addition of formic acid to the mobile phase improved ionization efficiency and gave the studied tropane alkaloids a finer peak. The multiple reaction monitoring chromatograms and mass spectra of investigated TAs transitions are given in Figure 2.…”

Section: Validation Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atropine and Scopolamine in Maize Products from the Retail Stores in the Republic of Serbia

Konstantinović

et al. 2022

Toxins

Self Cite

The cereal grains, which represent the cultivated grasses fruits, supply almost half of the total caloric requirements for humans and provide more nourishment compared with any other class of the food. Out of many cereals used for food, maize, rice, and wheat are the most important food resources for humans, representing 94% of the total cereals consumption. According to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics for the year 2018, the harvested areas of corn amount to 906,753 hectares. The production of about 7 million tons was achieved with an average yield of 7.7 t/ha according to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Serbia. Serbia is still among the ten largest exporters of wheat and corn in the world for the period of 2014/15–2017/18. More precisely, it ranks seventh in the export of corn. Utilization of maize products for food animal nutrition (1000 t) is 491,48, and for industrial processing (1000 t) 278,862 expressed as the total consumption (1000 t) is 769,910. Therefore, a total of 103 samples of maize products were analyzed for the presence of toxins, i.e., tropane alkaloids (TAs). The samples were collected from the retail stores in the Republic of Serbia in 2021 and analyzed for the presence of atropine and scopolamine (33 corn grits, 39 polenta, and 31 semolina samples). Therefore, the Recommendation 2015/976/EU on the monitoring of TAs in food was adopted by the EU Commission to obtain more occurrence data on TAs in food. The monitoring extent, however, is restricted because reliable analytical methods and appropriate sensitivity are limited. There was a limit of 1 g/kg for each atropine and scopolamine in cereals containing millet, sorghum, buckwheat, or their derivatives. All the samples were analyzed by the LC-MS/MS. The LOQ was set at 1.0 μg/kg. Out of the total 103 tested samples, 32 samples (31.1%) were contaminated with atropine and scopolamine in concentrations above the LOQ. The highest concentrations of the studied TAs were observed in a semolina sample-atropine: 58.80 μg/kg, scopolamine: 10.20 μg/kg. The obtained results indicate that the TAs concentrations are above the LOQ which can be considered potential human and animal health hazards.