Bioaccumulation of -methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) through Cyanobacteria-contaminated food or water supplies has been suggested as a possible contributor to Parkinson-dementia complex (PDC) among the indigenous Chamorro of Guam as well as Alzheimer disease (AD) worldwide, a speculation that has been widely commented on in news and editorial sections of premier scientific and medical journals, and that has led to product recalls and government-sponsored assessments of public health in Europe. However, quantification of BMAA to date has been based on indirect high performance liquid chromatography methods. Given the potential global health significance, we developed a stable-isotope dilution assay for BMAA to more rigorously test its proposed bioaccumulation in cerebral cortex.
