Journal
ANALYTICAL AND BIOANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Volume 407, Issue 29, Pages 8813-8824Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s00216-015-9044-0
Keywords
Saponin; Sea stars; Mass spectrometry; MALDI-mass spectrometry imaging
Funding
- F.R.I.A.
- FRFC [T.0056.13]
- EU FP7-OCEAN Project Low-toxic cost-efficient environment-friendly antifouling materials (BYEFOULING) [612717]
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Saponins are secondary metabolites that are abundant and diversified in echinoderms. Mass spectrometry is increasingly used not only to identify saponin congeners within animal extracts but also to decipher the structure/biological activity relationships of these molecules by determining their inter-organ and inter-individual variability. The usual method requires extensive purification procedures to prepare saponin extracts compatible with mass spectrometry analysis. Here, we selected the sea star Asterias rubens as a model animal to prove that direct analysis of saponins can be performed on tissue sections. We also demonstrated that carboxymethyl cellulose can be used as an embedding medium to facilitate the cryosectioning procedure. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) imaging was also revealed to afford interesting data on the distribution of saponin molecules within the tissues. We indeed highlight that saponins are located not only inside the body wall of the animals but also within the mucus layer that probably protects the animal against external aggressions.
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