Distribution Analysis of Functional Factors in Agricultural Products Using Mass Spectrometry Imaging

Abstract

The nations are concerning to prevent lifestyle diseases by daily dietary food consumption in a super-aged society of Japan. Functional food components such as carotenoids and flavonoids possess various beneficial effects including anti-oxidative effects for human health. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) are widely applied to the quantitative analysis of many agricultural products. Recently, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is developed as a novel technique. MSI is a direct mass spectrometric analysis of the tissue surface and can visualize the distribution of target molecules such as phospholipids and small biomolecules on tissue sections of agricultural products. In the present study, we analyzed the distribution of functional compounds on the sections of mini tomato by MSI. Our findings indicate that MS imaging technique can be applied to the detection of functional compound, freshness evaluation and residual chemicals for various agricultural products.