Quantitative Measurement of Melittin in Asian Honeybee Venom Using a New Method Including UPLC-QqTOF-MS

• Published in: Toxins Vol. 12; no. 7; p. 437
• Main Authors: Huang, Sheng, Wang, Jianhua, Guo, Zeqin, Wang, Yan, Liu, Chundong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 04.07.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Animals; Asian honeybee venom; Bee Venoms - chemistry; Bees; Calibration; Chromatography; Chromatography, Liquid; Ions; Limit of Detection; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Melitten - analysis; melittin; Methods; Noise; Peptides; Quadrupoles; Qualitative analysis; Quantitative analysis; quantitative measurement; Reproducibility of Results; Scientific imaging; Sensors; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqTOF-MS); Venom; quantitative measurement; melittin; ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqTOF-MS); Asian honeybee venom
• ISSN: 2072-6651; 2072-6651
• DOI: 10.3390/toxins12070437

Asian honeybee venom is widely used in traditional oriental medicine. Melittin is the main component of Asian honeybee venom. In the present study, an ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqTOF-MS) method was used for accurate qualitative and quantitative analyses of melittin in Asian honeybee venom. The results showed that the dynamic linear range of melittin was from 0.094 to 20 μg/mL, and the limit of quantification was 0.3125 μg/mL. The spiking recovery of melittin in honeybee venom ranged from 84.88% to 93.05%. Eighteen Asian honeybee venom samples in eighteen batches were collected from two different zones of China, and their melittin contents were measured. The contents of melittin in Asian honeybee venom samples was 33.9–46.23% of dry weight. This method proved a useful tool for the rapid evaluation of the authenticity and quality of Asian honeybee venom in terms of the melittin contents, and will contribute to a broader understanding of Asian honeybee venom.