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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 #403164
Research Project: New Technologies and Methodologies for Increasing Quality, Marketability and Value of Food Products and Byproducts

Location: Healthy Processed Foods Research

Title: Validation of aqueous normal phase chromatography method for the analysis of ergothioneine in commercial mushrooms

Author
item PESEK, JOSEPH - San Jose State University
item MATYSKA, MARIA - San Jose State University
item HILTZ, TANYA - Microsolv Technology Corporation
item Takeoka, Gary

Submitted to: LC GC North America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/7/2023
Publication Date: 9/19/2023
Citation: Pesek, J.J., Matyska, M.T., Hiltz, T., Takeoka, G.R. 2023. Validation of aqueous normal phase chromatography method for the analysis of ergothioneine in commercial mushrooms. LC GC North America. 41(8):341-344,349. https://doi.org/10.56530/lcgc.na.zi2474s4.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56530/lcgc.na.zi2474s4

Interpretive Summary: Ergothioneine is a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant amino acid which is highly bioavailable to humans from the diet.Presently, only limited knowledge exists regarding ergothioneine content in the human diet. Since ergothioneine is mainly produced by fungi, mushrooms are by far the primary dietary source. However, little is known about the erogothioneine content of foods, except that it is widely distributed but in relatively small amounts. It has been postulated that soil-borne fungi or bacteria produce erogothioneine that is passed on to plants through their roots. There is pressing need to develop a database with the ergothioneine content in different foods. We have developed a rapid, reliable, accurate and sensitive method for the identification and quantification of ergothioneine in mushrooms that can presumably be adapted to analyze other foods.

Technical Abstract: An analytical HPLC method for the identification and quantification of ergothioneine (EGT) has been developed using a silica hydride-based column. Several types of commercially available mushrooms were analyzed for quantification of ergothioneine using a Cogent Diamond Hydride™ column (100 x 4.6 mm) at flow rate 1 mL/min, DI water/acetonitrile/0.1% formic acid mobile phase and Aqueous Normal Phase (ANP) gradient. EGT was detected at 254 nm using an UV-VIS detector and was identified by matching retention times of the verified standard. The injection volume was 5 mL, and the column temperature was kept at 30 °C. The standard ergothioneine content ranged from 0.01 mg to 0.1 mg/mL with excellent linearity correlation (R2 = 0.99999). EGT recoveries were within 96.5-100.3%. The developed HPLC method was simple, accurate, reproducible, sensitive and rugged.