A comprehensive review on the pretreatment and detection methods of neonicotinoid insecticides in food and environmental samples.

In recent years, the residues of neonicotinoid insecticide in food and environmental samples have attracted extensive attention. Neonicotinoids have many adverse effects on human health, such as cancer, chronic disease, birth defects, and infertility. They have substantial toxicity to some non-target organisms (especially bees). Hence, monitoring the residues of neonicotinoid insecticides in foodstuffs is necessary to guarantee public health and ecological stability. This review aims to summarize and assess the metabolic features, residue status, sample pretreatment methods (solid-phase extraction (SPE), Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe (QuEChERS), and some novel pretreatment methods), and detection methods (instrument detection, immunoassay, and some innovative detection methods) for neonicotinoid insecticide residues in food and environmental samples. This review provides detailed references and discussion for the analysis of neonicotinoid insecticide residues, which can effectively promote the establishment of innovative detection methods for neonicotinoid insecticide residues.

Comprehensive assessment for the residual characteristics and degradation kinetics of pesticides in Panax notoginseng and planting soil.

Incorrect and excess usage of pesticides during crop cultivation poses a serious threat to human health and ecosystems. In this study, we tested for the presence of 201 pesticide residues in 90 batches of Panax notoginseng (P. notoginseng) and 10 batches of planting soil. Pesticide residue characteristics and the relationship between pesticides present in P. notoginseng and the soil were discussed. Twenty-nine pesticides were detected in P. notoginseng samples and 15 pesticides were found in the soil samples. In P. notoginseng samples, the 68.9% of the identified pesticides were fungicides, and six fungicides (procymidone, iprodione, pyrimethanil, propiconazole, dimethomorph and tebuconazole) were found in >90% of the samples. Nine insecticides were found, with one insecticide, chlorpyrifos, detected in 93.3% of the P. notoginseng samples. The residual concentrations of 17 pesticides were found at levels exceeded the "non-Chinese" maximum residue levels (MRLs) for Ginseng and 17 pesticides were found at levels exceeding the MRLs set by China for "pollution-free" P. notoginseng. We observed no significant differences in pesticide residues were found on P. notoginseng from different cultivation areas. We also analyzed the degradation kinetics of pesticides in the soil, as well as their bioconcentration factors (BCFs), and found that the fungicides iprodione and myclobutanil displayed strong uptake from the soil to the root of P. notoginseng. Together, our data suggest that fungicides should be considered as key monitoring substances in P. notoginseng and planting soil.

A comprehensive analysis of 201 pesticides for different herbal species-ready application using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry coupled with QuEChERs.

Developing an analysis of multi-pesticide residues for different herbal species-ready applications is a challenge. In the present work, a comprehensive analysis was proposed for rapid detection of 201 pesticides in various medicinal herbs. Samples were extracted and cleaned up with a high throughput pretreatment approach (modified QuEChERS), and then detected by gas chromatograph coupled to an electron impact ionization triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (GC-EI-MS/MS). The clean-up procedure has been optimized using four types of representative medicinal herbs with different primary or secondary metabolites. Moreover, a mixture of analyte protectants (APs) was to improve the peak shape and intensity of some compounds. The performance of the method was validated according to the European Union SANTE/11813/2017 regulatory guidelines. The limit of quantification (LOQ) was determined to be ≤10 ng mL-1, and the recovery was between 70.0%-120.0%, with ≤20% RSD for the majority of pesticides. Sixty samples belonging to different species of medicinal herbs (such radix, flos, cortex, fructus, and seeds) were analyzed to evaluate the applicability of the optimized method. High frequency of chlorpyrifos was found in Citri reticulatae pericarpium, Crataegi fructus and Cuscutae semen samples.

[QuEchERS pretreatment coupled to gas chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry to fast determination of 34 pesticide residues in Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma].

This study proposed a quantitative method for 34 pesticides including organochlorine,organophosphorus and pyrethroids in Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma herbs and medicinal slices,and analyzed the pesticide residues of collected Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma samples from different regions. With acetonitrile extraction and optimized Qu Ech ERS purification,the 32 batches of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma herbs and medicinal slices were analyzed by matrix matching standard curve quantitative analysis under GC-MS/MS multi-response monitoring( MRM) mode. This study investigated the pretreatment of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma samples based on the Qu Ech ERS method of Chinese Pharmacopoeia( 2015 edition,4),and the result showed that the recoveries of some pesticide was low and pigment has a strong interference in analysis,which result in worse purification effect. Therefore,this paper further optimized the Qu Ech ERS method and corrected the matrix matching standard curve method,and compensated the qualitative and quantitative effects of matrix effects on the detected target compounds in Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma. The results showed that 34 kinds of pesticide had good linear( R~2 of 0. 996 4 or higher) within a covering 0. 01-0. 2 mg·kg~(-1) concentration range. The limits of quantitation are less than 0. 01 mg·kg~(-1). This method was further applied to the simultaneous determination of 34 pesticide residues of typical organochlorine,organophosphorus and pyrethroids in 32 batches of Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma herbs and medicinal slices. Six batches containing beta-endosulfan,thiosulphate,o,p'-DDD and thrta-cypermethrin were detected,but none of them exceeded the limit of pesticide residues stipulated in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia and the EU Pharmacopoeia. This study indicates that the established method is rapid,convenient,accurate,and sensitive,which provides a rapid and efficient method for the simultaneous determination of typical organochlorine,organophosphorus and pyrethroids in Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma.

6'-Hydroxy Justicidin B Triggers a Critical Imbalance in Ca2+ Homeostasis and Mitochondrion-Dependent Cell Death in Human Leukemia K562 Cells.

Justicia procumbens (J. procumbens) is a traditional Chinese herbal medicine which was used for the treatment of fever, pain, and cancer. A compound 6'-hydroxy justicidin B (HJB) isolated from J. procumbens exhibits promising biological properties. However, the mechanism of action and the in vivo behavior of HJB remain to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated the mechanism of action of HJB on human leukemia K562 cells and its pharmacokinetic properties in rats. The results demonstrated that HJB significantly inhibited the proliferation of K562 cells and promoted apoptosis. Besides, HJB resulted in decreased mitochondrial membrane potential deltaPSIm, increased the level of the calcium homeostasis regulator protein TRPC6 and cytosolic calcium. The activity of caspase-8, caspase-9 and the expression of p53 were significantly increased after treatment with HJB. Additionally, HJB has rapid absorption rate and relative long elimination t1/2, indicating a longer residence time in vivo. The results indicate that HJB inhibited the proliferation of K562 cells and induced apoptosis by affecting the function of mitochondria and calcium homeostasis to activate the p53 signaling pathway. The pharmacokinetic study of HJB suggested it is absorbed well and has moderate metabolism in vivo. These results present HJB as a potential novel alternative to standard human leukemia therapies.