| Background |
Carotenoids are lipid-soluble compounds with nutritional properties that provide natural pigments to plants and animals. They are important antioxidants and have the ability to convert into essential vitamins. Carotenoids can prevent damage to cells, tissues, and genes, enhance the body's immune system, resist infections, reduce the risk of cancer, and protect the heart. CheKine™ Micro Carotenoid Content Assay Kit provides a simple, convenient, and rapid method for measuring carotenoid content, suitable for plant tissue samples. The principle involves carotenoids in plants are found in various yellow plastids or chromoplasts, such as in yellow leaves, yellow flowers, yellow and red fruits, and yellow roots. Samples are extracted using solvents to separate and extract carotenoids. Carotenoids have a specific absorption peak at 440±10 nm. In higher plants and algal microorganisms, chloroplasts also contain carotenoids. Carotenoids primarily absorb blue and violet light, while chlorophyll a and b absorb both red and blue-violet light. Therefore, for tissues containing chloroplasts, to exclude the interference from chlorophyll a and b on carotenoids, the content of chlorophyll a and b is first calculated using empirical formulas. Then, the carotenoid content is determined. For tissues without chlorophyll, the carotenoid content can be directly calculated using the empirical extinction coefficient of carotenoids. |
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.