Accuracy and uniformity of the nomenclature of biogenic amines and polyamines in metabolomics studies: A preliminary study.

Metabolomics is one of the newest areas in biochemistry dedicated to investigating small biomolecules in biofluids, tissues, and cells. Cutting edge instruments used in metabolomics studies make it possible to identify thousands of biomolecules and determine their interactions with biological networks. This tremendous area has increased the significance of accurate chemical nomenclature of compounds. Therefore, the classification of the organic molecules has become one of the most important issues in the field. Biogenic amines are nitrogenous compounds of low molecular weight formed by the decarboxylation of amino acids or by the amination and the transamination of aldehydes and ketones during normal metabolic processes. This letter covers the topic of nomenclature with respect to the current usage of biogenic amines in scientific literature. We use metabolomics as an example of field reporting data on trace levels of molecules that may be miscategorized in primary literature. We suggest that the incorrect classification of molecules will influence science education adversely because resources used for teaching are drawn from primary literature references that may contain errors.

Aminas biogênicas nos alimentos: revisão de literatura / Biogenic amines in foods: a literature review

Muitos estudos têm sido realizados acerca da presença e quantificação de aminas biogênicas nos diversos alimentos devido ao seu potencial tóxico. Histamina, putrescina, cadaverina, tiramina, triptamina, espermidina e espermina se destacam como as principais, sendo a análise da presença na matriz alimentar uma importante ferramenta tanto para indicar o grau de frescor ou de deterioração dos alimentos como para prevenir efeitos deletérios à saúde humana. Esta revisão aborda a importância da presença das aminas biogênicas nos alimentos, os efeitos tóxicos e os métodos analíticos.

Direct determination of biogenic amines in wine by integrating continuous flow clean-up and capillary electrophoresis with indirect UV detection.

A flow-injection manifold for automating the determination of biogenic amines in wine using capillary electrophoresis (CE) with indirect UV detection was developed. The ensuing method involves clean-up and solid-phase extraction (SPE) of the target analytes in the sample. Various treatments involving different SPE minicolumns were tested and compared. The C18 minicolumn was chosen to concentrate the amines following addition of ammonium chloride and ammonium hydroxide as buffer to neutralize them. Additions of amine standards were used to determine recoveries. Biogenic amines can be separated and detected after SPE with limits of detection in the range 0.05-0.1 microgram ml-1 by using 4 mM copper(II) sulphate, formic acid and 18-crown-6 as running buffer. All the amines studied are eluted within 15 min under the optimum conditions established. The overall process was successfully used to identify biogenic amines in various types of wine from different Spanish regions.