Influence of ultrasound and microwave treatments on the structural and thermal properties of normal maize starch and potato starch: A comparative study.

The effects of ultrasound and microwave on the physicochemical properties of normal maize and potato starches were compared. The cavitation effect of ultrasound loosened the internal space and destroyed the structure of starch granules, increased the damaged starch content, which was consistent with the decrease in relative crystallinity and the number and brightness of Maltese crosses, and the increase in D(0.5) and D(4,3) values. Microwave vibrated the molecules inside the granules and generated heat to destroy the structure of starch. The content of damaged starch was significantly lower in microwave-treated starch compared with ultrasound-treated starch. Microwave treatment promoted the formation of amylose-lipid complex, with the larger peak area at 20°(2θ) than that of the ultrasound-treated starch. The type of starch and the treatment sequence showed a significant effect. The results might help understand the mechanism of ultrasound and microwave treatments influencing the structural properties of starches.

Survey of mineral oil hydrocarbons in Chinese commercial complementary foods for infants and young children.

Recently, mineral oil hydrocarbons (MOH) in various foods have raised significant concern, especially for infants and young children due to their potential adverse health effects. Two fractions can be distinguished by certain analytical techniques, mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) and mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH). The toxicological profile of MOSH and MOAH differs greatly. The toxicity of MOSH is linked with long-term accumulation of some hydrocarbons. MOAH with three to seven, non- or simple-alkylated, aromatic rings may be mutagenic and carcinogenic. However, data on the occurrence of mineral oils in commercial complementary foods for infants and young children are lacking in China. In the present study, 100 commercial food samples were collected, including 26 pureed or paste canned foods, 21 high-protein ground cereal foods (rice flour), 25 raw cereal foods (noodles), and 28 cereal-based molar sticks and biscuits. The content of MOSH and MOAH in those samples was determined by optimised sample preparation methods combined with on-line high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with gas chromatography and flame ionisation detector (HPLC-GC-FID), with a limit of quantification of 0.5 mg/kg. The results indicated that there were no MOAH detected in any of the foods, but MOSH and polyolefin oligomeric saturated hydrocarbons (POSH) existed in most of the food samples, at <0.5-23.68 mg/kg. Moreover, the data and chromatograms of the MOSH and POSH also indicated that these contaminants were closely correlated to their ingredients and manufacturers. The current study provides basic data to understand MOH exposure and consequent health impact.

Inhibitory effect of chestnut (Castanea mollissima Blume) inner skin extract on the activity of α-amylase, α-glucosidase, dipeptidyl peptidase IV and in vitro digestibility of starches.

This study aimed to investigate the inhibitory effect of chestnut inner skin extract (CISE) on the activity of postprandial blood sugar-related enzymes. In total, 12 flavonoids were identified by HPLC-TOF-MS. CISE showed strong and weak inhibition on α-amylase and α-glucosidase, with the IC50 of 27.2 and 2.3 µg/mL, respectively. The inhibition modes of CISE against α-amylase and α-glucosidase were mixed-type and non-competitive type, respectively. Epicatechin gallate noncompetitively inhibited α-amylase, α-glucosidase and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV). Analysis by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy and circular dichroism suggested that flavonoids altered the hydrophobicity and microenvironment of these enzymes. CISE decreased the starch bioavailability by reducing the enzymatic hydrolysis rate and increasing the fraction of undigested starch. The extract reduced the rapidly digestible starch and increased the resistant starch after incorporation into A-, B- or C- crystallinity starch. Thus, the chestnut inner skin is a useful resource for regulating postprandial blood sugar level.

Offline Solid-phase Extraction Large-volume Injection-Gas chromatography for the Analysis of Mineral Oil-saturated Hydrocarbons in Commercial Vegetable Oils.

An offline solid-phase extraction (SPE) approach combined with a large-volume injection (LVI)-gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (LVI-GC-FID) is improved for routine analysis of mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) in vegetable oils. The key procedure of the method consists in using offline SPE columns for MOSH purification. The SPE column packed with 1% Ag-activated silica gel was used to separate MOSH from triglycerides and olefins in variety of vegetable oils. The eluent of MOSH fraction was only 3 mL and the concentration step was quick with little evaporation loss. The limit of quantification (LOQ) of the method was 2.5 mg/kg and the linearity ranged from 2 to 300 mg/kg. The accuracy was assessed by measuring the recoveries from spiked oil samples and was higher than 90%. Twenty-seven commercial vegetable oils were analyzed, and different levels of MOSH contamination were detected with the highest being 259.4 mg/kg. The results suggested that it is necessary to routinely detect mineral oil contamination in vegetable oils for food safety.

Flash Extraction and Physicochemical Characterization of Oil from Elaeagnus mollis Diels Seeds.

A flash extraction method was used to isolate Elaeagnus mollis oil (EMO). The optimal extraction parameters, sample/solvent ratio and extraction temperature, were determined to be 1:10 (g/mL) and 40°C, respectively. Especially, the extraction yield reached 49.30% when the extraction time was as short as 2 min. No obvious difference was observed in fatty acid composition, iodine value, saponification number, total phenolic content and tocopherol content between flash-extracted EMO and Soxhlet-extracted EMO, but their physicochemical values were lower than those of cold-pressed EMO. Cold-pressed EMO had higher oxidation stability, DPPH (1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and hydroxyl radical-scavenging activities than flash-extracted EMO and Soxlet extracted EMO. The flash extraction is demonstrated to be an alternative, efficient method for the vegetable oil production.

Rapid detection of authenticity and adulteration of walnut oil by FTIR and fluorescence spectroscopy: a comparative study.

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and fluorescence spectroscopy combined with soft independent modeling of class analogies (SIMCA) and partial least square (PLS) were used to detect the authenticity of walnut oil and adulteration amount of soybean oil in walnut oil. A SIMCA model of FTIR spectra could differentiate walnut oil and other oils into separate categories; the classification limit of soybean oil in walnut oil was 10%. Fluorescence spectroscopy could differentiate oil composition by the peak position and intensity of emission spectrum without multivariate analysis. The classification limit of soybean oil adulterated in walnut oil by fluorescence spectroscopy was below 5%. The deviation of the prediction model for fluorescence spectra was lower than that for FTIR spectra. Fluorescence spectroscopy was more applicable than FTIR in the adulteration detection of walnut oil, both from the determination limit and prediction deviation.

[Authentication and adulteration analysis of sesame oil by FTIR spectroscopy].

It's common in edible oil market that adulterating low price oils in high price oils. Sesame oil was often adulterated because of its high quality and price, so the authentication and adulteration of sesame oil were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy combined with chemometrics. Firstly, FTIR spectra of sesame oil, soybean oil, and sunflower seed oil in 4,000-650 cm(-1) were analyzed. It was very difficult to detect the difference among the spectra of above edible oils, because they are all mixtures of triglyceride fatty acids and have similar spectra. However, the FTIR data of edible oils in the fingerprint region of 1,800-650 cm(-1) differed slightly because their fatty acid compositions are different, so the data could be classified and recognized by chemometric methods. The authenticity model of sesame oil was built by principal component analysis (PCA) and soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA). The recognition rate was 100%, and the built model was satisfactory. The classification limits of both soybean oil and sunflower seed oil adulterated in sesame oil were 10%, with the chemometric treatments of standard normal variation (SNV), partial least square (PLS) and PCA. In addition, the FTIR data processed by PCA and PLS were used to establish an analysis model of binary system of sesame oil mixed with soybean oil or sunflower oil, the prediction values had good corresponding relationship with true values, and the relative errors of prediction were between -6.87% and 8.07%, which means the quantitative model was practical. This method is very convenient and rapid after the models have been built, and can be used for rapid detection of authenticity and adulteration of sesame oil. The method is also practical and suitable for the daily analysis of large amount of samples.

[Raman spectroscopy combined with pattern recognition methods for rapid identification of crude soybean oil adulteration].

In the present paper, a non-destructive, simple and rapid analytical method was proposed based on Raman spectroscopy (Raman) combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and support vector machine (SVM) as pattern recognition methods for adulteration of crude soybean oil (CSO). Based on fingerprint characteristics of Raman, the spectra of 28 CSOs, 46 refined edible oils (REOs) and 110 adulterated oil samples were analyzed and used for discrimination model establishment. The preprocessing methods include choosing spectral band of 780-1,800 cm(-1), Y-axis intensity correction, baseline correction and normalization in succession. After those series of spectral pretreatment, PCA was usually employed for extracting characteristic variables of all Raman spectral data and 7 principal components which were the highest contributions of all data were used as var- iables for SVM model. The SVM discrimination model was established by randomly picking 20 CSOs and 95 adulterated oils as calibration set, and 8 CSOs and 35 adulterated oils as validation set. There were 4 kinds of kernel function algorithm (linear, polynomial, RBF, sigmoid) respectively used for establishing SVM models and grid-search for optimization of parameters of all the SVM models. The classification results of 4 models were compared by their discrimination performances and the optimal SVM model was based on linear kernel classification algorithm with 100% accuracy rate of calibration set recognition, a zero misjudgment rate and the lowest detection limit of 2.5%. The above results showed that Raman combined PCA-SVM could discriminate CSO adulteration with refined edible oils. Since Raman spectroscopy is simple, rapid, non-destructive, environment friendly, and suitable for field testing, it will provide an alternative method for edible oil adulteration analysis.

[Study on the processing of leech by FTIR and 2D-IR correlation spectroscopy].

The chemical differences of traditional Chinese medicine leech before and after processing were analyzed by FTIR and two-dimensional correlation infrared (2D-IR) spectroscopy. The result showed that the leech was high in protein, with characteristic peaks of amide I, II bands. Comparing the IR spectra of samples, the primary difference was that the characteristic peak of fresh leech was at 1 543 cm(-1), while that of crude and processed leech was at 1 535 cm(-1). A 2D-IR spectrum with heating perturbation was used to track the processing dynamics of leech In the 2D-IR correlation spectra, fresh leech exhibited stronger automatic peaks of the amide I and II bands than that of processed leech, which indicates that the protein components of the fresh leech were more sensitive to heat perturbation than the processed one. Moreover, the result of FTIR and 2D-IR correlation spectra validated that the 3-dimensional structure of protein was damaged and hydrogen bonds were broken after processing, which resulted in the inactivation of protein. The fatty acids and cholesterol components of leech were also oxidized in this process.

Can odors of TCM be captured by electronic nose? The novel quality control method for musk by electronic nose coupled with chemometrics.

Musk is a precious and wide applied material in traditional Chinese medicine, also, an important material for the perfume industry all over the world. To establish a rapid, cost-effective and relatively objective assessment for the quality of musk, different musk samples, including authentic, fake and adulterate, were collected. A oxide sensor based electronic nose (E-nose) was employed to measure the musk samples, the E-nose generated data were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), the responses of 18 sensors of E-nose were evaluated by loading analysis. Results showed that a rapid evaluation of complex response of the samples could be obtained, in combination with PCA and the perception level of the E-nose was given better results in the recognition values of the musk aroma. The authentic, fake and adulterate musk could be distinguished by E-nose coupled with PCA, sensor 2, 3, 5, 12, 15 and 17 were found to be able to better discriminate between musk samples, confirming the potential application of an electronic instrument coupled with chemometrics for a rapid and on-line quality control for the traditional medicines.

[Identification of musk by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy].

Standard nature musk and false nature musk were identified by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) combined with derivative spectra in the present article. The main characteristic absorption peaks of musk represented the key components such as macrocyclic ketone (2923, 2851 cm(-1)), polypeptides (1655, 1546 cm(-1)) and steroids (1400, 1038 cm(-1)) respectively. Ensuing from the researches artificial musk and natural musk resemble the exemplar of market nature musk. Particularly, the infrared spectra of samples of natural musk and artificial musk are more similar and hard to be distinguished. In virtue of derivative spectra analysis, the resolution of spectra is advanced; several kinds of standard musk have been differentiated directly and effectively. This method was fast, sensitive, direct and nondestructive, and could be used to identify the source of rare materia medica and distinguish the counterfeits of musk successfully.

[Determination of trace BrO3- and Br- in Chinese patent drugs, waters and beverages by ion chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry].

In the present study, a method for determination of BrO3- and Br- using ion chromatograghy coupling with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (IC-ICP-MS) was developed. BrO3- and Br- were separated on a Hamilton PRP X-100 (150 x 4.1 mm, 10 microm) column guarding with a On-guard II RP (4 x 50 mm) column with 10 mmol x L(-1) NH4NO3 eluent solution at 2 mL x min(-1). By using 200 microL sample loop, the detection limits for BrO3- and Br were 0.35 and 0.36 microg x L(-1), respectively. BrO3- had good linearity in the range 4.8-160.0 ng x L(-1). The standard solution linear equation was y = 250.31x-45.43, and R2 = 0.9999. Br had good linearity in the range 4.2-140.0 ng x L(-1). The standard solution linear equation was y = 186.84x-127.10, and R2 = 0.9994. Recoveries of spiked samples were 98.9%-109.5% and 97.4%-106.1%, respectively. The samples included various kinds of Chinese patent drugs, waters, and beverages. Among them, 14 bottled drinking waters and 2 kinds of tap waters were found containing BrO-, while other samples were under BrO3- detection limit. Br- was detected in all samples.

[Study on compatibility of Coptidis-Evodia couples by FTIR spectroscopy].

Combining unique macro-fingerprint characteristics of infrared spectroscopy (IR) with the overall concept of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) theory, the authors seek to establish a new, rapid and economic method for research on Chinese herb preparation (CHP), which could reflect the whole and integration concept of TCM theory and also be widely applied in TCM research. In the present paper, four coptidis-evodia couples, e.g. Zuo-jin-wan (coptidis : evodia = 6 : 1), Gan-lu-san (coptidis : evodia = 2 : 1), Zhu-yu-wan (coptidis : evodia = 1 : 1) and Fan-zuo-jin (coptidis : evodia = 1 : 6), were extracted by boiling water and 80% alcohol, and the FTIR spectra of those CHPs were compared and analyzed in detail. The characteristic absorbance bands of coptidis and evodia were assigned in the FTIR spectra of the four coptidis-evodia couples. The results showed that rhizoma coptidis owns absolute superiority in both extracts of Zuo-jin-wan and Gan-lu-san since the proportions of rhizoma coptidis in the two couples are higher than those of fructus evodiae. With regard to Zhu-yu-wan, the proportions of two ingredients are the same. However, the contribution rate of coptidis is higher than that of evodiae in water extract of Zhu-yu-wan. In addition, coptidis also shows higher contribution rate than that of evodia in alcohol extract of Fan-zuo-jin. The spectroscopic technique described here is a simple and rapid analytical technique, which could provide valuable chemical information about the whole coptidis-evodia CHPs.

[Study on traditional Chinese medicine extracts of rhizoma coptidis by FTIR spectroscopy].

In the present paper, we applied Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and second derivative infrared spectroscopy to establish a rapid and efficient analytical method for a preliminary quality control of medicinal herb extracts. The commonly used Chinese herb medicine, Rhizoma coptidis, was taken as an example. The main component-berberine in rhizoma coptidis was analyzed as target compound. The results indicated that the IR spectra of rhizoma coptidis herb, its water and alcohol extracts, exhibit their macroscopic fingerprint characters with fine repeatability, and the corresponding secondary derivative spectra further confirmed the spectral characteristics of the original IR spectra by enhancing spectral resolution. The typical and strongest absorption band of IR spectrum of berberine is at 1,505 cm(-1), which is assigned to aromatic skeleton vibration band, and its intensities in spectra of rhizoma coptidis herb and its different extracts become the main identification standard of the contents of berberine in those samples. In addition, comparing the IR spectra of the medicinal herb and its extracts, it was shown that the main bioactive components, alkaloids in rhizoma coptidis herb, are enriched by extraction, and the contents of berberine in alcohol extracts of rhizoma coptidis are higher than those in water extracts. The spectroscopic technique described is a simple and rapid analytical technique, which could provide valuable information about chemical constituents of medicinal extracts for guiding further chromatographic analysis and separation improvement.

Fourier transform mid-infrared (MIR) and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy for rapid quality assessment of Chinese medicine preparation Honghua Oil.

Honghua Oil (HHO), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) oil preparation, is a mixture of several plant essential oils. In this text, the extended ranges of Fourier transform mid-infrared (FT-MIR) and near infrared (FT-NIR) were recorded for 48 commercially available HHOs of different batches from nine manufacturers. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of three marker components, alpha-pinene, methyl salicylate and eugenol, in different HHO products were performed rapidly by the two vibrational spectroscopic methods, i.e. MIR with horizontal attenuated total reflection (HATR) accessory and NIR with direct sampling technique, followed by partial least squares (PLS) regression treatment of the set of spectra obtained. The results indicated that it was successful to identify alpha-pinene, methyl salicylate and eugenol in all of the samples by simple inspection of the MIR-HATR spectra. Both PLS models established with MIR-HATR and NIR spectral data using gas chromatography (GC) peak areas as calibration reference showed a good linear correlation for each of all three target substances in HHO samples. The above spectroscopic techniques may be the promising methods for the rapid quality assessment/quality control (QA/QC) of TCM oil preparations.

Comparative study on major bioactive components in natural, artificial and in-vitro cultured Calculus Bovis.

Major bioactive components in various Calculus Bovis, including natural, artificial and in-vitro cultured Calculus Bovis, were comparatively studied. An approach of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet and evaporative light scattering detections (HPLC/UV/ELSD) was established to simultaneously determinate six bioactive components thereof, including five bile acids (cholic acid, deoxycholic acid, ursodeoxycholic, chenodeoxycholic acid, hyodeoxycholic acid) and bilirubin. ELSD and UV detector were applied to detect bile acids and bilirubin respectively. The assay was performed on a C(18) column with water-acetonitrile gradient elution and the investigated constituents were authenticated by comparing retention times and mass spectra with those of reference compounds. The proposed method was applied to analyze twenty-one Calculus Bovis extraction samples, and produced data with acceptable linearity, precision, repeatability and accuracy. The result indicated the variations among Calculus Bovis samples under different developmental conditions. Artificial and in-vitro cultured Calculus Bovis, especially in-vitro cultured ones, which contain total bioactive constituents no less than natural products and have the best batch-to-batch uniformity, suffice to be used as substitutes of natural Calculus Bovis.

[Establishment of a novel preliminary screening model for bioactive parts of folium of Isatis indigotica based on biothermodynamics].

OBJECTIVE: To apply a novel method for screening the bioactive parts and substances of traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) based on biothermodynamic theories. METHOD: The power-time curves of Escherchia coli proliferation at different concentrations of decoction and its five bioactive parts of folium of Isatis indigotica (FII) were determined by TAM Air Isothermal Calorimeter. The growth rate constants of promotive and inhibitory actions were calculated. Moreover, the potential pharmacological action of FII was analyzed from the point of view of TCM theory. RESULT: The growth rate constant k1 and Pm of the studied bacterium in the presence of the decoction of FII were concentration-dependant. The k1 and Pm increased with the mass increase of the decoction and its water-extract of FII. However, the value of k1 and Pm decreased with the increasing concentrations of its other four organic solvent parts. The experimental results revealed that the sequence of inhibitory activity of different extracts was n-BuOH extract > EtOAc extract > chloroform extract > PE extract. CONCLUSION: The decoction and its water-extract of FII stimulated the metabolism of E. coli. While the other four organic solvent extracts of the total decoction inhibited the growth of tested bacterium. The microcalorimetric method has many virtues such as extensive applicability, convenience, etc, and provides a new and useful means for primary screening the bioactive parts and substances of TCM.

[Phytochemical and pharmacological research progress in Leontopodium medicinal plants].

This paper reviewed the phytochemical and pharmacological research progress in Leontopodium medicinal plants, including the resource distribution, the chemical constitutes, the pharmacological activities and clinical application. The review has provided some information for the study and development of Leontopodium medicinal plants in future.