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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Healthy Processed Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #246862
Title: alpha-Solasinine and alpha-Solamargine Contents of Goboma (Solanum macrocarpon L.) and Scarlet (S. aethiopicum L.) Eggplants Determined by HPLC-MS with Selective-Ion-Monitoring

Author
item SANCHEZ-MATA, MARIA-CORTES - Complutense University Of Madrid (UCM)
item Yokoyama, Wallace - Wally
item Hong, Yun Jeong
item PROHENS, JAIME - Polytechnic University - Spain

Submitted to: Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/25/2010
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Eggplants can contain toxic glycoalkaloids like other members of the Solanaceous family including tomatoes and potatoes. Glycoalkaloids are not a problem in commercial varieties of the Solanaceous family since breeders are selective about species that contain harmful levels of glycoalkaloids. In order to increase the varieties of eggplants available to consumers, two new varieties of eggplants were evaluated for glycoalkaloids content. The scarlet eggplant S. aethiopicum L. was found to be safe for consumption but the glycoalkaloids content of the gboma eggplant (S. macrocarpon L.) was too high by Western standards.

Technical Abstract: The gboma (S. macrocarpon L.) and scarlet eggplants (S. aethiopicum L.) can be crossed with the common eggplant and represent a genetic resource of interest for improving several traits of common eggplant. This work is focused on the analysis of glycoalkaloid (GA) content on S. macrocarpon and S. aethiopicum eggplants. Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry with selective-ion monitoring (SIM) was used to quantify GAs in S. macrocarpon and S. aethiopicum compared to common eggplant (S. melongena L.). Fruits of S. aethiopicum and S. melongena presented 0.58 – 4.56 mg/100 g of '-solamargine (SM) and 0.17 – 1 mg/100 g of '-solasonine (SS), on wet basis. On the other hand, S. macrocarpon fruits had much higher values, with 124 – 197 mg/100 g of SM and 16 – 23 mg/100 g of SS. However, the proportions of SM and SS were similar between fruits of S. melongena and S. macrocarpon (76 – 89 % of SM), while in S. aethiopicum fruit composition was more variable (48 – 89 % of SM). According to these results, S. macrocarpon fruits, with values of GAs 5 to 10 times higher than the value considered safe in foods, should not be considered suitable for human consumption; however, the analysed fruits of S. aethiopicum were similar to those of S. melongena (about 1/7 of values considered as toxic), and could be considered safe for consumption. Also, because of its very low levels of toxic GAs, they represent an alternative to wild species for being incorporated into eggplant breeding programmes in order to obtain new improved varieties of common eggplant.