Rapid Screening of Complex Mixtures by Thin Layer Chromatography-Bioluminescence

摘要

The screening of complex mixtures such as foodstuffs, beverages, dietary supplements, and wastewater for toxins and adulterants or potential biological activity is often expensive and time consuming. To identify the active or toxic constituents in such mixtures requires the tedious isolation of single components followed by assays of their biological effects. Alternatively, standard rapid screening tests only establish the overall toxicity of a mixture disregarding the identification of the active culprit. Additionally, when these materials are tested in their mixture condition there is a high risk of artifacts or false data due to interferences and interactions with other components in the mixture. Optimally, a rapid screening assay that analyzes the activity of the individual components of a mixture in an economical and efficient fashion would be of great value. The Bioluminex~(TM) assay (ChromaDex, Santa Ana, CA), which is based on direct bioautography, is one such technique.