Metabolome based volatiles profiling in 13 date palm fruit varieties from Egypt via SPME GC-MS and chemometrics

Non-destructive characterization of egg odor and fertilization status by SPME/GC-MS coupled with electronic nose

BACKGROUND

Early and non-destructive identification of fertile (F) eggs is a difficult task in the process of breeding laying hens. The odors emitted from unfertilized (UF), infertile (IF), and fertile (F) eggs were characterized by solid-phase microextraction / gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry (SPME/GC-MS) and electronic nose (E-nose) to determine their differences by principal component, partial least squares, and canonical discriminant analyses.

RESULTS

A total of 14 volatiles were identified in unhatched shell white Leghorn eggs, such as nonanal, decanal, 6-methyl-5-hepten-2-one, and 6,10-dimethyl-5,9-undecadien-2-one. Cedrene and decanal contributed greatly to the classification of UF and fertilized (Fd)/IF eggs; cedrene, decanal, 1-octanol and hexanal contributed greatly to the distinction between UF and IF eggs; heptanal might be the potential marker to determine F/IF eggs. P40/1, P10/2, P10/1, TA/2, T40/2 and T30/1, P30/1, P40/2, PA/2, T40/2 mostly contributed to the distinction between UF and Fd eggs and between F and IF eggs, respectively. Canonical discriminant analysis presented superior differentiating efficiency for almost all groups, and the odor differences between UF and Fd eggs were significantly larger than the differences between F and IF eggs.

CONCLUSION

Solid-phase microextraction / gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer combined with E-nose may have the potential to non-destructively distinguish UF, F, and IF eggs, which will provide a new perspective to understand the differences among them. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Differentiation of Fresh and Processed Fruit Juices Using Volatile Composition

In the current study, a comprehensive approach based on headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), combined with gas chromatography-quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-qMS), was used to establish the volatile signature of fresh and processed fruit juices, obtained from the same batch of grapes, red fruits, orange, pear, and apple. This is a powerful tool for evaluating the impact of the production process on the volatomic pattern of fruit juice. A total of 169 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) belonging to different chemical groups were identified. Esters, carbonyl compounds, terpenoids, and alcohols are the major chemical groups in the investigated fruit juices. However, their contribution to the total volatile profile varied. Special attention should be paid to processed fruit juices to avoid the possible deleterious effects associated with the formation of furanic compounds (e.g., heat treatment), since their furanic content was significantly higher in comparison to that of fresh fruit juices. The knowledge obtained in the current study will allow for the introduction of modifications to the process involved in processing juice, which will improve the organoleptic characteristics of processed juices, contributing to a better acceptance by consumers. Furthermore, more assays should be performed to assess the effect of harvests, geography, and agronomy on the volatile profile of juices.

Characterization and classification of volatiles from different breeds of eggs by SPME-GC-MS and chemometrics

Volatiles of shell eggs were identified by SPME-GC-MS to characterize and discriminate white Leghorn (W), Hy-line brown (H) and Jing fen (J) hatching eggs with comparison, principal components (PC), partial least squares (PLS), random forest classification (RFC) and canonical discriminant (CD) analyses. DVB/CAR/PDMS fiber and extraction 60 min were suited to analyze the volatiles emitted from eggs. A total of 17 or 18 volatile compounds were identified in raw shell hatching eggs, namely, nonanal, decanal and 6-methly-5-hepten-2-one were the main volatile components with contributions that over 70%. The composition and/or profile of volatile compounds from W and H eggs were much more similar than J eggs. Hexanal, decanal, 6-methly-5-hepten-2-one, heptanal, etc. have greatly contributed to the distinction of W, H and J eggs in sparse (S)-PLS and orthogonal (O)-PLS models. The accuracy of RFC and CD model were 100%, 100% (initial) and 83.3% (cross-validation), respectively. Heptanal, 6-methly-5-hepten-2-one, octanal, etc. were contributed positively to the classification of W, H, J eggs in RFC, especially for heptanal.

Food fingerprints - A valuable tool to monitor food authenticity and safety

In recent years, food frauds and adulterations have increased significantly. This practice is motivated by fast economical gains and has an enormous impact on public health, representing an important issue in food science. In this context, this review has been designed to be a useful guide of potential biomarkers of food authenticity and safety. In terms of food authenticity, we focused our attention on biomarkers reported to specify different botanical or geographical origins, genetic diversity or production systems, while at the food safety level, molecular evidences of food adulteration or spoilage will be highlighted. This report is the first to combine results from recent studies in a format that allows a ready overview of metabolites (<1200 Da) and potentially molecular routes to monitor food authentication and safety. This review has therefore the potential to unveil important aspects in food adulteration and safety, contributing to improve the current regulatory frameworks.

Bioactive compounds and health benefits of some palm species traditionally used in Africa and the Americas - A review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

According to previous ethno-medicinal reviews, Cocos nucifera, Elaeis guineensis and Phoenix dactylifera are among the main palms which are often used on the American and African continents to treat infections, infestations and disorders in the digestive, respiratory, genito-urinary, dermal, endocrine, cardiovascular, muscular-skeletal, mental and neural systems, as well as neoplasms, dental issues and metabolic and nutritional disorders. In addition, one or more species of the wild genera Acrocomia, Areca, Astrocaryum, Attalea, Bactris, Borassus, Calamus, Chamaedorea, Chamaerops, Euterpe, Hyphaene, Mauritia, Oenocarpus and Syagrus have a high number of records of these ethno-medicinal uses. The most used parts of the palm tree are the fruits, followed by roots, seeds, leaves and flower sap.

AIM OF THE STUDY

This review discusses the phytochemical composition and the pharmacological properties of these important ethno-medicinal palms, aiming to provide a contribution to future research prospects.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Significant information was compiled from an electronic search in widely used international scientific databases (Google Scholar, Science Direct, SciFinder, Web of Science, PubMed, Wiley on line Library, Scielo, ACS Publications), and additional information was obtained from dissertations, theses, books and other relevant websites.

RESULTS

Palms, in general, are rich in oils, terpenoids and phenolic compounds. Fruits of many species are notable for their high content of healthy oils and fat-soluble bioactive compounds, mainly terpenoids, such as pigment carotenoids (and provitamin A), phytosterols, triterpene pentacyclics and tocols (and vitamin E), while other species stood out for their phenolic compounds derived from benzoic and cinnamic acids, along with flavan-3-ol, flavone, flavonol, and stilbene compounds or anthocyanin pigments. In addition to fruits, other parts of the plant such as seeds, leaves, palm heart, flowers and roots are also sources of many bioactive compounds. These compounds are linked to the ethno-medicinal use of many palms that improve human health against infections, infestations and disorders of human systems.

CONCLUSIONS

Palms have provided bioactive samples that validate their effectiveness in traditional medicine. However, the intensive study of all palm species related to ethno-medicinal use is needed, along with selection of the most appropriate palm accessions, ripe stage of the fruit and /or part of the plant. Furthermore, the complete profiles of all phytochemicals, their effects on animal models and human subjects, and toxicological and clinical trials are suggested, which, added to the incorporation of improved technological processes, should represent a significant advance for the implementation of new opportunities with wide benefits for human health.

Metabolome based volatiles mapping of roasted umbelliferous fruits aroma via HS-SPME GC/MS and peroxide levels analyses

Despite studies on umbelliferous fruits flavor makeup, nothing is known regarding roasting impact on their fruit aroma. Five major umbelliferous crops viz., anise, caraway, coriander, cumin and fennel were analyzed via headspace solid-phase microextraction to reveal for 117 volatile constituents. Oxygenated monoterpenes amounted for the major volatile class in raw fruits at 75% with (E)-anethole, carvone, β-linalool, cuminaldehyde and estragole as major components in anise, caraway, coriander, cumin, and fennel, respectively. Difference was observed in fennel fruit "estragole" levels derived from different origins. Upon roasting, several novel volatiles were detected viz. pyrazines and flavored Milliard type volatiles. Major flavor intensified response was detected in cumin with an increase in its "cuminaldehyde" levels versus a decrease of estragole levels in fennel. Roasted cumin exhibited highest peroxide value 14.2 mEq O₂/Kg, whereas the least was detected in fennel at 6.1 mEq O₂/Kg, though with both values not representing a health hazard.

A new strategy for statistical analysis-based fingerprint establishment: Application to quality assessment of Semen sojae praeparatum

Semen sojae praeparatum with homology of medicine and food is a famous traditional Chinese medicine. A simple and effective quality fingerprint analysis, coupled with chemometrics methods, was developed for quality assessment of Semen sojae praeparatum. First, similarity analysis (SA) and hierarchical clusting analysis (HCA) were applied to select the qualitative markers, which obviously influence the quality of Semen sojae praeparatum. 21 chemicals were selected and characterized by high resolution ion trap/time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-IT-TOF-MS). Subsequently, principal components analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) were conducted to select the quantitative markers of Semen sojae praeparatum samples from different origins. Moreover, 11 compounds with statistical significance were determined quantitatively, which provided an accurate and informative data for quality evaluation. This study proposes a new strategy for "statistic analysis-based fingerprint establishment", which would be a valuable reference for further study.

Authentication of commercial spices based on the similarities between gas chromatographic fingerprints

BACKGROUND

A simple and solvent-free method was developed for the authentication of commercial spices. The similarities between gas chromatographic fingerprints were measured using similarity indices and multivariate data analyses, as morphological differentiation between dried powders and small spice particles was challenging. The volatile compounds present in 11 spices (i.e. allspice, anise, black pepper, caraway, clove, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, star anise, and white pepper) were extracted by headspace solid-phase microextraction, and analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

RESULTS

The largest 10 peaks were selected from each total ion chromatogram, and a total of 65 volatiles were tentatively identified. The similarity indices (i.e. the congruence coefficients) were calculated using the data matrices of the identified compound relative peak areas to differentiate between two sets of fingerprints. Where pairs of similar fingerprints produced high congruence coefficients (>0.80), distinctive volatile markers were employed to distinguish between these samples. In addition, hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were performed to visualise the similarity among fingerprints, and the analysed spices were grouped and characterised according to their distinctive major components.

CONCLUSION

This method is suitable for screening unknown spices, and can therefore be employed to evaluate the quality and authenticity of various spices. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.

MS-Based Analytical Techniques: Advances in Spray-Based Methods and EI-LC-MS Applications

Mass spectrometry is the most powerful technique for the detection and identification of organic compounds. It can provide molecular weight information and a wealth of structural details that give a unique fingerprint for each analyte. Due to these characteristics, mass spectrometry-based analytical methods are showing an increasing interest in the scientific community, especially in food safety, environmental, and forensic investigation areas where the simultaneous detection of targeted and nontargeted compounds represents a key factor. In addition, safety risks can be identified at the early stage through online and real-time analytical methodologies. In this context, several efforts have been made to achieve analytical instrumentation able to perform real-time analysis in the native environment of samples and to generate highly informative spectra. This review article provides a survey of some instrumental innovations and their applications with particular attention to spray-based MS methods and food analysis issues. The survey will attempt to cover the state of the art from 2012 up to 2017.

Comparison of the Bioactive Components in Two Seeds of Ziziphus Species by Different Analytical Approaches Combined with Chemometrics

The Ziziphus species are considered to be the medicine and food dual purposes plants. Among them, the seed of Ziziphus jujuba var. spinosa (ZS) has traditionally been used as an ethnomedicine in Asian countries for thousands years. Owing to the significant benefits for human health, the demand for ZS increased year by year, and the wild resources have become increasingly scarce, which resulted in a shortage of market supply for ZS and product adulteration by substituting ZS with the seeds of Z. mauritiana Lam. (ZM). However, whether the bioactivity of ZM is similar to ZS has not been fully confirmed till now. Thus, to provide potential information for evaluating the similarity of the health promoting activities between these two Ziziphus seeds, their chemical profiles, including triterpenoids, flavonoids, nucleosides, free amino acids and fatty acids were compared using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with evaporative light scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD), ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-TQ MS), and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods. Furthermore, a more holistic investigation was performed with multivariate principle component analysis and orthogonal projections to latent structures-discriminant analysis analyses to explore the relative variability between the seeds of two species. The results showed that a significant difference exists between ZS and ZM, and ZS was more rich in saponins, polyunsaturated fatty acids and some amino acids, whereas ZM was particularly rich in saturated fatty acids and flavonoids. The above results suggested the bioactivities of ZM for human health may not be similar to ZS owing to their difference in chemical profiles. These results would also be helpful for distinguishing the ZM from ZS with the chemical markers obtained from the study, and set a scientific foundation for establishing the quality control method of ZS.

Volatiles profiling in Ceratonia siliqua (Carob bean) from Egypt and in response to roasting as analyzed via solid-phase microextraction coupled to chemometrics

Ceratonia siliqua is a legume tree of considerable commercial importance for the flavor and sweets industry cultivated mostly for its pods nutritive value and or several health benefits. Despite extensive studies on C. siliqua pod non-volatile metabolites, much less is known regarding volatiles composition which contributes to the flavor of its many food products. To gain insight into C. siliqua aroma, 31 volatile constituents from unroasted and roasted pods were profiled using headspace solid-phase micro extraction (HD-SPME) analyzed via quadruple mass spectrometer followed by multivariate data analyses. Short chain fatty acids amounted for the major volatile class at ca. (71–77%) with caproic acid (20%) and pentanoic acid (15–25%) as major components. Compared to ripe pod, roasted ripe pod was found less enriched in major volatile classes i.e., short chain fatty acids and aldehydes, except for higher pyranone levels. Volatiles mediating for unheated and hot carob fruit aroma is likely to be related to its (E)-cinnamaldehyde and pyranone content, respectively. Such knowledge is expected to be the key for understanding the olfactory and taste properties of C. siliqua and its various commercial food products.

Nutrimetabolomics: An Update on Analytical Approaches to Investigate the Role of Plant-Based Foods and Their Bioactive Compounds in Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases

Metabolomics is the study of low-weight molecules present in biological samples such as biofluids, tissue/cellular extracts, and culture media. Metabolomics research is increasing, and at the moment, it has several applications in the food science and nutrition fields. In the present review, we provide an update about the most frequently used methodologies and metabolomic platforms in these areas. Also, we discuss different metabolomic strategies regarding the discovery of new bioactive compounds (BACs) in plant-based foods. Furthermore, we review the existing literature related to the use of metabolomics to investigate the potential protective role of BACs in the prevention and treatment of non-communicable chronic diseases, namely cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.