Analysis of balenine in muscle extract of opah Lampris guttatus with automatic amino acid analyzer

We examined the method of analysis and quantitation of balenine (Bal) previously reported. In this method, Bal in muscle extract was hydrolyzed to 3-methylhistidine (3-Mehis) and β-alanine in 6 M hydrochloric acid heated at 110℃ for 24 hours, analyzed and quantitated 3-Mehis by automatic amino acid analyzer. And it was found that 3-Mehis content was equal to Bal content before hydrolysis. However, in this study, the minimum variation of 3-Mehis content was achieved at 110℃ for 3 hours by six repetitions of hydrolysis and quantitation of 3-Mehis derived from Bal. In addition, a high linear correlation between 3-Mehis content after hydrolysis and Bal content before hydrolysis was observed at the Bal standard solution concentrations of 0.05 to 10 μmol/mL. The ratio of 3-Mehis content after hydrolysis to Bal content before hydrolysis was not equal but 89%. Based on these considerations, the Bal content of opah Lampris guttatus muscle extract was quantitated and a remarkably high Bal content was found. The Bal content of opah was much higher than that of some species of baleen whales, such as mink whale Balaenoptera acutorostrata, Sei whale B. borealis and Bryde's whale B. brydei.