Phenylalanine Analysis Service

What is Phenylalanine?

Phenylalanine (Phe) is one of the eight essential amino acids in the human body. It cannot be synthesized by the human body and can only be synthesized by plants and microorganisms. The amino acid is metabolized and utilized in the intestinal tract by the cells of the intestinal mucosa and may also be metabolized by the large number and complexity of microflora in the intestine.Phe is an aromatic amino acid. Most of it is oxidized by the body to tyrosine catalyzed by phenylalanine hydroxylase, with which it synthesizes important neurotransmitters and hormones, and participates in the body's glucose and fat metabolism.

There are three different types of phenylalanine: L-phenylalanine, D-phenylalanine and DL-phenylalanine. D-Phenylalanine allows for more effective pain control. L-phenylalanine helps regulate mood, appetite and mental alertness. DL-Phenylalanine can have a positive effect on pain sensitivity and mental state.

Accurate and efficient analysis and quantification of phenylalanine in plants, animals, and products is in demand in the food, pharmaceutical, nutritional, and anti-cancer fields. Creative Proteomics has an advanced HPLC-MS analytical platform to provide you with phenylalanine detection and content analysis services.

Figure 1. Phenylalanine chemical structure

Applications of Phenylalanine Analysis

Nutritional Status Assessment: Provides information on the nutritional status of a person, especially with regard to protein intake and utilization.

Phenylalanine Metabolism Research: Study the metabolic pathways of phenylalanine and its downstream metabolites, and identify potential biomarkers for neurological or metabolic disorders.

Development of New Therapies: Assist in the development of new treatments for metabolic disorders or neurological diseases associated with dysregulation of phenylalanine metabolism. By understanding the metabolic pathways involved, potential drug targets can be identified.

Sports Nutrition Evaluation: evaluating the efficacy of phenylalanine supplementation in sports nutrition. By measuring levels of phenylalanine and its metabolites in athletes before and after supplementation, it helps determine the optimal dosage and timing of supplementation to enhance athletic performance and reduce muscle damage.

Neurotransmitter Metabolism Studies: Phenylalanine is a precursor to several neurotransmitters, including dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine. Analysis of phenylalanine can accelerate the study of neurotransmitter metabolism and the development of new treatments for neurological diseases associated with neurotransmitter dysregulation.

Quality Control in Food Industry: measuring the content of phenylalanine and its metabolites in food to ensure the quality and safety of food containing phenylalanine or its derivatives.

Advantages of Our Phenylalanine Analysis Service

• Comprehensive and unified service platform
• Experienced sample extraction and data analysis team
• MS-based platforms for accurate detection and quantification of phenylalanine
• Flexible statistical analysis
• High repeatability and low-cost tests

Service Workflow

Our newly developed sample preprocessing method provides efficiency, recovery rates consistently exceeding 85%, and environmental protection. Sample preprocessing at Creative Proteomics complies with in-house standard operation procedures (SOPs), maximizing homogeneity between samples.

Figure 2. Phenylalanine analysis service workflow.

Quantification methods: external reference method or isotope-labeled internal standard method

Mode: MRM, capable of simultaneously detecting more than 1000 MRM ion pairs

Precision: ≤10^-9 g

Positive/Negative polarity switching time: ≤20 ms, allowing for the acquisition of Q1/Q3 MRM transition mass spectra in both ionization modes from a single LC-MS/MS run.

Analysis content:

• Standard curve drawing
• Raw data preprocessing
• Absolute quantitation of phenylalanine
• Differential metabolites screening
• Optimal analyses such as KEGG pathway analysis and hierarchical clustering

Sample Requirements

• Blood/plasma: 500ul/sample
• Urine: 1ml/sample
• Tissue: 200mg/sample
• Cells: 1x10⁷/sample
• Feces: 500mg/sample
• Sample storage and transportation: Store in liquid nitrogen or -80°C, and transport on dry ice.
• Number of biological replicates: At least 6 biological replicates for plant samples, and at least 10 biological replicates for animal samples.

Deliverables

• Experimental procedure
• Parameters of liquid chromatography and MS
• Extracted mitochondria and purified protein sample
• Purity analysis report
• MS raw data files and MS data quality checks
• Metabolites quantification data
• Custom analysis report

We can provide customers with sample processing, testing, analysis, and other professional technical services, and work with our customers to improve product quality. From sampling to analysis, we provide one-stop services. Our experienced team guarantees to produce credible results at a competitive price.

Reference

1. Eiken HG, Knappskog PM, et al, PKU mutation G46S is associated with increased aggregation and degradation of the phenylalanine hydroxylase enzyme. Hum Mutat, 2018, 7: 228-238.