1. Research project objectives/Research hypothesis Due to the high consumption of tomatoes and significant biological activity of their main protective secondary metabolite tomatine, including antifungal, antibacterial and anticarcinogenic properties, as well as its potential toxicity, it is important to determine it in both the plant material and food (that is, both inedible and edible parts of the plants). This project proposal assumes the possibility of method development for determining tomatine in plant material and food samples as its main hypothesis, with the use of response surface methodology (RSM) as an optimization tool at each stage of the process.T The main aim of this project is to design an universal method for determination of steroidal glycoalkaloids, including tomatine and possible related compounds, in the plant tissues and food products of different kinds. After recognizing the key parameters of the process in preliminary experiments, response surface methodology (RSM) will be applied to optimize the extraction, hydrolysis and derivatization procedure, and method obtained will be applied to the analysis of tomatine in plant material and commercially available foods. 2. Research project methodology In order to develop an universal method for determination of tomatine in food and biological material, the response surface methodology (RSM) with full three-level factorial (k=3) Box- Behnken design will be used. After preliminary experiments, every step of the procedure (extraction, hydrolysis and derivatization) will be optimized. The obtained analytical procedure will be applied to the analysis of tomatine in plant material and commercially available food product. Quantitative analyses will be performed using gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and the identification of aglycone derivatives will be carried out using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). 3. Expected impact of the research project on the development of science, civilization and society Method development for determination of tomatine in food and biological samples will allow to unify procedures applied for the analysis of this compound in different matrices, in the same time assuring relatively low cost of a single analysis. It will standardize the control of tomatine content in commercially available food products and evaluation of the plant cultivar resistance to biotic stress. As the result, it will be possible to determine the usefulness of new tomato cultivars (including those originated from the crossing of the common tomato with related wild species) in modern agriculture. Moreover, their toxicological safety will be also defined using unified analytical procedures.
Universal method development for determination of steroidal glycoalkaloids in food and biological samples
Giovanni Caprioli
2016-01-01
Abstract
1. Research project objectives/Research hypothesis Due to the high consumption of tomatoes and significant biological activity of their main protective secondary metabolite tomatine, including antifungal, antibacterial and anticarcinogenic properties, as well as its potential toxicity, it is important to determine it in both the plant material and food (that is, both inedible and edible parts of the plants). This project proposal assumes the possibility of method development for determining tomatine in plant material and food samples as its main hypothesis, with the use of response surface methodology (RSM) as an optimization tool at each stage of the process.T The main aim of this project is to design an universal method for determination of steroidal glycoalkaloids, including tomatine and possible related compounds, in the plant tissues and food products of different kinds. After recognizing the key parameters of the process in preliminary experiments, response surface methodology (RSM) will be applied to optimize the extraction, hydrolysis and derivatization procedure, and method obtained will be applied to the analysis of tomatine in plant material and commercially available foods. 2. Research project methodology In order to develop an universal method for determination of tomatine in food and biological material, the response surface methodology (RSM) with full three-level factorial (k=3) Box- Behnken design will be used. After preliminary experiments, every step of the procedure (extraction, hydrolysis and derivatization) will be optimized. The obtained analytical procedure will be applied to the analysis of tomatine in plant material and commercially available food product. Quantitative analyses will be performed using gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and the identification of aglycone derivatives will be carried out using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). 3. Expected impact of the research project on the development of science, civilization and society Method development for determination of tomatine in food and biological samples will allow to unify procedures applied for the analysis of this compound in different matrices, in the same time assuring relatively low cost of a single analysis. It will standardize the control of tomatine content in commercially available food products and evaluation of the plant cultivar resistance to biotic stress. As the result, it will be possible to determine the usefulness of new tomato cultivars (including those originated from the crossing of the common tomato with related wild species) in modern agriculture. Moreover, their toxicological safety will be also defined using unified analytical procedures.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
