Apidologie 34 (2003) 129-137
DOI: 10.1051/apido:2003011

Determination and changes of free amino acids in royal jelly during storage

Emanuele Boselli^a, Maria Fiorenza Caboni^b, Anna Gloria Sabatini^c, Gian Luigi Marcazzan^c and Giovanni Lercker<sup>d

a</sup>  Dipartimento di Biotecnologie Agrarie ed Ambientali, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
^b  Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agroalimentari, Ambientali e Microbiologiche, Università del Molise, Via De Sanctis, 86100 Campobasso, Italy
^c  Istituto Nazionale di Apicoltura, Via di Saliceto 80, 40128 Bologna, Italy
^d  Dipartimento di Scienze degli Alimenti, Università di Bologna, Viale G. Fanin, 40, 40127 Bologna, Italy

(Received 15 April 2002; revised 25 July 2002; accepted 23 August 2002)

Abstract
Free amino acids (FAAs) in royal jelly (RJ) were determined and their identification was confirmed with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS). The presence of D-aminoacids was evaluated using GC with a chiral column. The total FAA content was 7.3 mg/g RJ on average; the major FAAs were proline, lysine, glutamate, b-alanine, phenylalanine, aspartate and serine. The concentration of FAAs of the D-series was below the detection limit of the method (0.1 mg/g RJ) in all the samples. The FAA fraction was monitored in RJ frozen immediately after sample collection (control) and in aliquots of the same sample stored at two different temperatures (room temperature and 4 °C) for different time intervals (3, 6 and 10 months). The FAA content was constant throughout storage at 4 °C. However, at room temperature, proline and lysine increased after three months to 6.8 and 3 mg/g, respectively and then decreased after 6 and 10 months to 3 and 1 mg/g.

Key words: royal jelly / free amino acid / storage condition / gas chromatography-mass spectrometry / chiral separation

Correspondence and reprints: Emanuele Boselli
    e-mail: eboselli@agr.unian.it

© INRA, EDP Sciences, DIB, AGIB 2003