title: Developmental patterning and segregation of alkaloids in areca nut (seed of Areca catechu) revealed by magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry imaging.
abstract: Areca nut (seed of Areca catechu) is consumed by people from different parts of Asia, including India. The four major alkaloids present in areca nut are arecoline, arecaidine, guvacoline and guvacine. Upon cutting, the nut reveals two kinds of regions; white and brown. In our present study, we have monitored the formation of these two regions within the nut during maturation, using the non-invasive techniques of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and volume localized magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI MS) and desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI MS) imaging have been used to study the associated change in the alkaloid contents of these two regions during the growth of the nut. Our study reveals that white and brown regions start forming within the nut when the liquid within starts solidifying. At the final stage of maturity, arecoline, arecaidine and guvacoline get segregated in the brown region whereas guvacine gets to the white region of the nut. The transport of molecules with maturity and corresponding pattern formation are expected to be associated with a multitude of physiochemical changes.
authors.affiliation: DST Unit of Nanoscience (DST UNS) and Thematic Unit of Excellence (TUE), Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
authors.forename: Amitava
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Srimany
authors.affiliation: MRI-MRS Centre, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
authors.forename: Christy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: George
authors.affiliation: DST Unit of Nanoscience (DST UNS) and Thematic Unit of Excellence (TUE), Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
authors.forename: Hemanta R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Naik
authors.affiliation: DST Unit of Nanoscience (DST UNS) and Thematic Unit of Excellence (TUE), Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India.
authors.forename: Danica Glenda
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.affiliation: MRI-MRS Centre, Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India. Electronic address: nckumar@iitm.ac.in.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chandrakumar
authors.affiliation: DST Unit of Nanoscience (DST UNS) and Thematic Unit of Excellence (TUE), Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India. Electronic address: pradeep@iitm.ac.in.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pradeep
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D001114:Areca / Q000737:chemistry*; D001115:Arecoline / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009539:Nicotinic Acids / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D019906:Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Biomolecular; D009754:Nuts / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D009539:Nicotinic Acids; C015910:guvacine; D001115:Arecoline; C000588631:guvacoline
keywords: Alkaloid; Areca catechu (Arecaceae); Areca nut; DESI MS; MRI; PRESS (MRS); Pattern