Author(s)

Fei Teng, Tomohiro Bito, Shigeo Takenaka, Hiroyuki Takenaka, Yuji Yamaguchi, Yukinori Yabuta, Fumio Watanabe

Department of Veterinary Science, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan.
Division of Applied Bioresources Chemistry, The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tottori University, Tottori, Japan.
MAC Gifu Research Institute, MicroAlgae Corporation, Gifu, Japan..

Vitamin B₁₂ contents in the edible cyanobacterium Nostoc flagelliforme, also known as hair vegetable, were assayed using a microbiological method. We detected high vitamin B₁₂ contents in samples of naturally grown cells (109.2 ± 18.5 μg/100g dry weight) and cultured cells (120.2 ± 53.6 μg/100g dry weight). However, commercially available hair vegetable samples, which comprised fake substitutes and Nostoc, had variable contents (4.8 - 101.6 μg/100g dry weight) because concomitant fake items contain very low vitamin B₁₂ contents. To evaluate whether natural and cultured N. flagelliforme samples contained vitamin B₁₂ or pseudovitamin B₁₂, corrinoid compounds were purified and identified as pseudovitamin B₁₂ (approximately 72%) and vitamin B₁₂ (approximately 28%) using silica gel 60 TLC bioautography and LC/MS. The results suggested that N. flagelliforme contains substantial amounts of pseudovitamin B₁₂, which is inactive in humans.

Edible Cyanobacteria; Hair Vegetable; Nostoc flagelliforme; Pseudovitamin B₁₂; Vitamin B₁₂

F. Teng, T. Bito, S. Takenaka, H. Takenaka, Y. Yamaguchi, Y. Yabuta and F. Watanabe, "Characterization of Corrinoid Compounds in the Edible Cyanobacterium Nostoc flagelliforme the Hair Vegetable," Food and Nutrition Sciences, Vol. 5 No. 4, 2014, pp. 334-340. doi: 10.4236/fns.2014.54040.