Danilo Corradini

CNR, Istituto per i Sistemi Biologici, Area Territoriale di Ricerca di Roma 1, Strada Provinciale 35d, 00010 Montelibretti (RM)

Selenium (Se) is an essential microelement for mammals, crucial for the maintenance of overall human health. Its deficiency has been associated to a wide range of pathological conditions and disorders, including disturbance of thyroid function, reduced male fertility, and the Keshan disease (KD), which is an endemic cardiomyopathy occurring in regions with selenium-deficient soils [1].  The selenium enrichment of plants is an experienced approaches to increase daily selenium intake, as an alternative of taking dietary supplements containing selenium in bioavailable forms. This communication outlines the application of advanced analytical separation techniques employed to evaluate the influence of selenium biofortification of edible plants on the total content of this element and its chemical composition, as well as on the synthesis of secondary metabolites having beneficial effects on human health.  The study is carried out in the framework of the EU funded project PATHOFOOD (Project N.101160011), leaded by the University of Warsaw and involving the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Institute of Biological System (ISB), and the European Consulting Company REDINN. PATHOFOOD is aimed at advancing the field of selenium-enriched functional food, by developing innovative crop cultivation methods that enhance selenium content while minimizing environmental impact. The project is also aimed at developing food processing techniques capable to preserve the content of selenium in its bioavailable forms, as well as at producing innovative functional food based on cabbage juice produced from selenium fortified plants. High-performance liquid chromatography hyphenated with ICP-MS (HPLC-ICP-MS) will be used to evaluate occurrence and abundancy of inorganic and organic Se-compounds, whereas HPLC-ESI-MS/MS will be employed to identify unknown compounds or to confirm their identity. High-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC) and HPLC with UV detection will be employed to carry out metabolomic analysis of extracted polar fractions by different approaches, including fingerprinting and targeted metabolomics. The fingerprinting approach will be used to compare the chromatographic profile of the extracted metabolites without the need to carry out their identification and it will be used for sample screening. The targeted metabolomic approach will be carried out hyphenating the separation technique with MS. It will be applied for identifying and quantifying metabolites displaying significant variations in the fingerprints. Capillary electromigration techniques, based on the different migration velocities of the analytes in capillary columns under the action of an electric field, will be considered as complementary analytical techniques for profiling ionogenic and highly polar metabolites.

Keywords:  Selenium enriched plants, selenium-compounds, plant secondary metabolites, functional food.

References

1. Ying H., Zhang Y., Biol. Trace Elem. Res., 191 (2019) 38–50. DOI: 10.1007/s12011-019-01781-9.