Development of a rapid riboflavin growth-based assay using Lactobacillus rhamnosus

• Main Author: Golbach, Jennifer L.
• Other Authors: Ricke, Steven C.
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: Texas A&M University 2006
• Subjects: riboflavin; Lactobacillus rhamnosus; microtiter plate assay; anaerobic conditions; reducing agents
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/3131

Riboflavin is an essential part of the human diet. Although the United States does not have a major problem with a riboflavin deficiency, other regions of the world do. This is especially true for those regions whose main subsistence is rice. To help prevent and control riboflavin deficiencies, many cereal grains are now being fortified with riboflavin. The recommended dietary allowance of riboflavin is 1.1-1.6 mg per day. This value increases slightly for pregnant women, breast feeding women, and athletes. Because riboflavin is an essential part of the diet, it is important to ensure that the minimum requirements for this nutrient are met. By determining the amount of riboflavin in food products, an accurate estimate of daily riboflavin intake can be determined. The AOAC (Association of Official Analytical Chemists) approved microbiological riboflavin assay can be tedious and time consuming. A faster approach to the riboflavin assay would greatly benefit the food industry. By scaling down the assay to microtiter plates both, time and materials can be conserved. Use of microtiter plates would also allow for numerous samples to be assayed simultaneously. The goal for developing the microtiter plate assay is to obtain results more rapidly while maintaining the accuracy and precision of the AOAC ( method 940.33I) tube assay.