Resumen

Las lombrices terrestres del genero Eisenia foetida, son de interes nutricional ya que son una fuente rica en proteinas (> 60% p/p, base seca). El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar el contenido de aminoacidos proteicos en muestras de lombrices convertidas previamente en harina. La determinacion analitica requirio el diseno y validacion de un metodo analitico por cromatografia liquida de alta resolucion en fase reversa y derivatizacion precolumna con oftalaldehido. El metodo resulto ser preciso, lineal y reproducible con una exactitud satisfactoria, en el intervalo de concentracion ensayado (2 . 32 uM). La harina de lombriz se caracterizo por un contenido representativo de algunos aminoacidos esenciales, tales como: fenilalanina, leucina, lisina, isoleucina, metionina y valina (> 3% p/p). La lombriz roja californiana podria constituir una solucion a los problemas nutricionales y ecologicos de algunos paises en vias de desarrollo. Los resultados obtenidos concuerdan significativamente con los reportados por otros autores, razon por la cual se propone el metodo analitico descrito.

Abstract

Earthworms (Eisenia foetida) are of nutritional interest since they are a rich source of protein (> 60% w/w). The aim of this work was to determine amino acid content in proteins from samples of earthworm flour. The amino acids were separated by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography and detected through molecular fluorescence subsequent to derivatization with o-phthalaldehyde. The accuracy and precision of the method developed were satisfactory, and a linear response within the concentration range of 2 - 32 uM was observed. The earthworm flour was characterized by evaluating the content of some essential amino acids, such as: phenylalanine, leucine, lysine, isoleucine, methionine and valine (> 3% w/w). The findings from this work are in agreement with those from earlier studies indicating that the analytical method described in this paper may be adopted for amino acid analysis of earthworm flour samples. This species could provide an answer to the nutritional and ecological problems of some developing countries.