Scientists at Brunswick Laboratories Lead to Quantitation of Carotenoids in Biological Fluids, Foods, and Dietary Supplements Using LC-MS/MS Technologies

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Scientists at Brunswick Laboratories Lead to Quantitation of Carotenoids in Biological Fluids, Foods, and Dietary Supplements Using LC-MS/MS Technologies
Norton, MA - Mar 13, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Scientists at Brunswick Laboratories Lead to Quantitation of Carotenoids in Biological Fluids, Foods, and Dietary Supplements Using LC-MS/MS Technologies

Carotenoids belong in the group of yellow or red pigments that occur widely in plants, animals, and humans. They are highly physiologically important and fulfill many tasks. Quantitative changes of carotenoids can also act as markers of environmental damage. In recent years, there has been particular emphasis on obtaining more accurate data on the types and concentrations of carotenoids in biological fluids, foods, and supplements for various nutrition activities. Quantitation of carotenoids is complicated using traditional HPLC-UV methods due to its low sensitivity, poor specificity, and time-consuming.

Scientists at Brunswick Laboratories, in Norton, MA have developed a highly sensitive and fast liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay for simultaneous quantitation of six carotenoids, a -carotene, b -carotene, lutein, lycopene, zeaxanthin, and astaxanthin, in biological fluids (plasma), various foods, and supplements utilizing the API 4000 QTRAP LC/MS/MS system. This new method was determined to be selective, sensitive, accurate, precise, and reproducible and will be presented in 55th ASMS (American Society of Mass Spectrometry) Conference, June, 2007 in Indianapolis. Dr. Xianguo Zhao, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Brunswick Laboratories says, "By utilizing state-of-the-art instrumentation, Brunswick labs will continue to provide our customers more accurate data in an expeditious manner for today’s nutritional industries".

About Brunswick Laboratories

Founded in 1997, Brunswick Laboratories is an independent contract laboratory providing analytical services in the chemical sciences. We are dedicated to "Improving Health Through Science". Equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation, our highly-skilled scientists provide superior services and technical support to the nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries.