Determination of 5 natural selenium species in selenium-enriched bamboo shoots using LC-ICP-MS

A method for simultaneous determination of the selenium species methylselenocysteine (MeSeCys), selenocysteine (SeCys(2)), selenite (SeIV), selenomethionine (SeMet), and selenates (SeVI) in natural selenium-enriched bamboo shoots was developed. Samples were extracted using sonication with a solution of pepsin. Different selenium species were separated using an anion exchange column with isocratic elution and a citric acid mobile phase at pH 4.7. Separated selenium species were detected as Se-80 using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) in dynamic reaction cell (DRC) gas mode. The method achieved acceptable quantitative recoveries of 73.9 to 113.4% with relative standard deviations of < 5%. The limits of detection were 1, 2, 2, 3, and 3 mu g/kg (fresh weight) for SeCys(2), Se, MeSeCys, SeMet, and Se, respectively. The method was simple, rapid, accurate, and useful for determination of selenium species in natural selenium enriched bamboo shoots.