Investigation of biologically active amines in some selected edible mushrooms

From the paper

Abstract

Mushrooms are highly valued due to nutritional and functional properties as well as small environmental footprint. However, scarce information is available regarding amines in commercial products. The objective of this study was to investigate the levels of bioactive amines in eight fresh edible commercial mushrooms species. An ion-pair HPLC method with post-column derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde and fluorescence detection was fit for the purpose. Seven out of nine amines were present and levels varied among species. Spermidine was ubiquitous to mushrooms, with highest content in Black Shimeji (12.4 mg/100 g). The levels of spermidine in mushrooms classify them as high polyamines sources, which is valued due to its association with growth, health promotion and antioxidant properties. Agmatine was present in all Pleurotus. Tyramine, tryptamine and phenylethylamine were detected in some species; the levels of cadaverine and putrescine were discrete. A four-principal component model explained 99.4% of the variance and it was able to separate Pleurotus spp. (White shimeji, Hiratake, Black shimeji and Salmon) from Agaricus bisporus (Champignon and Portobello) and Lentinula edodes (Shitake). Hierarchical cluster analysis confirmed the potential of using the occurrence and levels of amines to separate some mushroom species.