Content of melatonin and other antioxidants in grape‐related foodstuffs: measurement using a MEPS‐HPLC‐F method

Abstract

The strong antioxidant activity of melatonin is well known and it is important to investigate its presence and levels in different foodstuffs, for the purpose of evaluating their nutraceutical properties. As a contribution towards this goal, an original analytical method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of melatonin and other indolic and phenolic antioxidants (including trans- and cis-resveratrol, ferulic acid, tryptophan, serotonin and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid) in grape-related foodstuffs and beverages: namely grape, grape juice, must, wine and grappa (Italian pomace brandy). These foodstuffs represent an important part of the diet, both traditionally and in recent times, especially in Mediterranean countries and could be (at least in part) responsible for the beneficial effects involved in the 'French paradox'. The analytical method is based on high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to fluorescence detection, exploiting the native fluorescence of the analytes. A C8 column was used as the stationary phase, while the mobile phase was composed of acidic phosphate buffer and acetonitrile; fluorescence intensity was monitored at λ=386nm while exciting at λ=298nm. The sample pretreatment was carried out by a fast and reliable microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) procedure. After validation, the method was applied to the analysis of melatonin and other antioxidants in food and beverages derived from grape, with very good results being obtained. Thus, this methodology may represent a promising tool for the evaluation of the antioxidant properties of nutraceuticals and functional foods.

Melatonin: Exceeding Expectations

“…Melatonin is not unique to vertebrates but is also produced in invertebrates, unicells, and plants, none of which possess a pineal gland and some of which, i.e., unicells, have no organs whatsoever (37,50,51). These nonvertebrates need melatonin for some of the same reasons vertebrates do, e.g., as an antioxidant (37).…”

“…Melatonin is not unique to vertebrates but is also produced in invertebrates, unicells, and plants, none of which possess a pineal gland and some of which, i.e., unicells, have no organs whatsoever (37,50,51). These nonvertebrates need melatonin for some of the same reasons vertebrates do, e.g., as an antioxidant (37). Some plants already have been genetically engineered to produce elevated quantities of melatonin, which protects them from free radical-producing environmental stressors (temperature extremes, drought, disease) (8,9).…”

Stir bar sorptive extraction with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for the determination of resveratrol, piceatannol and oxyresveratrol isomers in wines

“…Stilbenoids are generally determined by liquid chromatography (LC) using different detection systems, such as UV [11][12][13][14], fluorescence [15][16][17] or mass spectrometry [11,[18][19][20]. Gas chromatography (GC), especially when it is hyphenated with mass spectrometry (MS), has important advantages over LC, allowing identification and confirmation even at low…”

Determination of melatonin content in traditional Thai herbal remedies used as sleeping aids

“…Many studies have previously reported that melatonin was clearly separable from other potentially interfering indoleamines with HPLC-FD [15][16][17][18][19][20]. The extraction/purification step with solid phase extraction (SPE) further reduced the likelihood of interfering compounds.…”