title: Effective determination method for a cyanobacterial neurotoxin, beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine.
abstract: We developed a simple and effective analysis procedure that includes pretreatment and determination methods for beta-N-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA), a cyanobacterial neurotoxin. BMAA may be produced by all known groups of cyanobacteria living in freshwater as well as marine environments. In this paper, we report a novel determination method for BMAA. A cation-exchange resin was effective for the selective concentration of BMAA from cyanobacterial extracts and yielded a high recovery rate. Moreover, liquid chromatography (LC)-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry with a hydrophilic LC column was effective for determining BMAA levels. The quantitation limit for BMAA based on selected ion monitoring (SIM) was determined as 0.5 ng at a signal/noise ratio of 5.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, Aoba 6-6-20, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8579, Japan. kubo@mail.kankyo.tohoku.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.forename: Ken
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hosoya
authors.forename: Kunimitsu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaya
mesh_terms: D000599:Amino Acids, Diamino / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D002411:Cation Exchange Resins; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D000458:Cyanobacteria; D000087522:Cyanobacteria Toxins; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000599:Amino Acids, Diamino; D002411:Cation Exchange Resins; D000087522:Cyanobacteria Toxins; D018690:Excitatory Amino Acid Agonists; D009498:Neurotoxins; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C001824:beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine