Enhancing effect of Fe2+ on the formaldehyde production from trimethylamine N-oxide decomposition catalyzed by the extract of Harpadon nehereus kidney

The effects of Fe2+ on the trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) demethylating activity of the Harpadon nehereus kidney extract were studied in this research.The activity of the kidney extract was presumably inhibited by ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA),which indicates that the kidney extract contains an enzyme or enzyme system with metal cations as activator.Activity of the kidney extract was enhanced significantly when Fe2+ was added into the model system in vitro.As the concentration of Fe2+ increased,the decomposing rate of TMAO increased rapidly until TMAO decomposed completely.The activity of the kidney extract was also enhanced by reductant such as ascorbic acid.Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) was employed to determine the content of total iron in a number of fishery products.Significant positive correlation between the contents of total iron and endogenous formaldehyde (FA) was found,especially in marine products.