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Microalgae amino acids: Method validation using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry

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Abstract

This study aimed to develop a method for determining protein amino acids in microalgae using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. To efficiently hydrolyze the microalgal proteins and obtain the amino acids, a rotational central composite design was employed with two independent variables: reaction temperature (99.7–170.3 ºC) and hydrolysis time (1.1–27.9 h). The amino acids were derivatized with N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide and analyzed on a gas chromatograph coupled to a mass spectrometer. Subsequently, the optimized condition was validated and used to characterize the amino acid profile of Spirulina sp. This validation adhered to the criteria set by ANVISA RDC No. 166 and European Union guidelines (SANTE 11312/2021) and consisted of assessing selectivity, limits of detection and quantification, linearity, working range, precision, and accuracy. Nineteen protein amino acids were detected and quantified from the biomass of Spirulina sp., and all validation parameters yielded satisfactory results. Our findings showed that using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry proved effective and reliable for determining protein amino acids in microalgae.

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Data availability

All data experimentally generated from this study are available in the article in the form of tables (eight tables) and figures (three figures).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for financial support, to the Federal University of Pampa and the Federal University of Santa Maria for financial assistance and physical structure, and to the Atlas Assessoria Linguística for language editing.

Funding

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Federal University of Pampa (UNIPAMPA), Itaqui, Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil

    Júnior Mendes Furlan, João Pedro da Silva Cunha, Verônica Bueno Ribas, Kassandra Fontoura da Silva, Betânia Nascimento dos Santos & Graciela Salete Centenaro

  2. Food Technology and Science, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil

    Roger Wagner

  3. Science and Technology Institute, Federal University of Vales Do Jequitinhnha E Mucuri, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Raquel Guidetti Vendruscolo

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  1. Júnior Mendes Furlan
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  2. João Pedro da Silva Cunha
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  3. Verônica Bueno Ribas
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  4. Kassandra Fontoura da Silva
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  5. Betânia Nascimento dos Santos
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Contributions

M.F.: Conceptualization; Data curation; Formal analysis; Investigation; Methodology; Roles/Writing—original draft.

S.C.: Investigation; Methodology.

B.R.: Investigation; Methodology.

F.S.: Investigation; Methodology.

N.S.: Data curation; Formal analysis; Investigation; Methodology.

C: Investigation; Methodology.

W: Conceptualization; Funding acquisition; Resources; Supervision; Visualization.

GV: Conceptualization; Supervision; Visualization.

All authors: Writing—review & editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Raquel Guidetti Vendruscolo.

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Furlan, J.M., da Silva Cunha, J.P., Ribas, V.B. et al. Microalgae amino acids: Method validation using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. J Appl Phycol 36, 1153–1167 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-023-03168-9

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