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Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Extraction of Non-Protein Amino Acids from Cyanobacteria for Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Published on: December 9, 2022
Analytical protocol for identification of BMAA and DAB in biological samples
Zdenek Spácil1, Johan Eriksson, Sara Jonasson
1Department of Analytical Chemistry, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden.
Abstract:
Beta-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is a non-protein amino acid, thought to be inflicting neurodegenerative diseases related to ALS/PDC in human beings. Due to conflicting data concerning the presence of BMAA in various biological matrixes, we present a robust and sensitive method for high confidence identification of BMAA after derivatization by 6-aminoquinolyl-N-hydroxysuccinimidyl carbamate (AQC). The efficient sample pretreatment in combination with LC-MS/MS SRM enables chromatographic separation of BMAA from the isomer 2,3-diaminobutyric acid (DAB). The method is applicable for selective BMAA/DAB detection in various biological samples ranging from a prokaryotic cyanobacterium to eukaryotic fish.
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