Fraud Detection of Herbal Medicines Based on Modern Analytical Technologies Combine with Chemometrics Approach: A Review

Identification and Quantification of α-D-Glucopyranosyl-Isomaltol, α-D-Maltosyl-Isomaltol, and α-Glucan in AHCCŴ Cultured Mushroom Mycelia Extract

Consumer demand and use of mushrooms and their extracts for health promotion is increasing in the United States and worldwide. In order to further advance the science and quality assurance of mushroom products and ingredients, analytical data is needed to identify and standardize biochemical markers. This information is also needed to help prevent fraudulent products from entering the market. Three carbohydrate compounds, two of which have not yet been noted in mushrooms, have been identified and quantified in a standardized extract of cultured Lentinula edodes mycelia (AHCCŴ, Amino Up Co. Ltd., Sapporo, Japan). α-D-glucopyranosyl-isomaltol and α-D-maltosyl-isomaltol, collectively referred to as "active hexose correlated compound," were quantified with pure standards using ultra high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. α-Glucan content was quantified using a glucose autokit. Samples from three separate lots were analyzed. The mean concentration of α-D-glucopyranosyl-isomaltol was 990.2 + 330.1 μg/g and 184.2 + 86.8 μg/g for α-D-maltosyl-isomaltol. α-Glucan was present at 26.2 ± 0.5% of dry matter. To help prevent low-quality or counterfeit mushroom items from being sold, especially via websites, precise identification and quantification of marker compounds in medicinal mushroom extracts will support the differentiation of products, enhance research efforts and aid in consumer acceptance.

Integrating automated machine learning and metabolic reprogramming for the identification of microplastic in soil: A case study on soybean

The accumulation of polyethylene microplastic (PE-MPs) in soil can significantly impact plant quality and yield, as well as affect human health and food chain cycles. Therefore, developing rapid and effective detection methods is crucial. In this study, traditional machine learning (ML) and H2O automated machine learning (H2O AutoML) were utilized to offer a powerful framework for detecting PE-MPs (0.1 %, 1 %, and 2 % by dry soil weight) and the co-contamination of PE-MPs and fomesafen (a common herbicide) in soil. The development of the framework was based on the results of the metabolic reprogramming of soybean plants. Our study stated that traditional ML exhibits lower accuracy due to the challenges associated with optimizing complex parameters. H2O AutoML can accurately distinguish between clean soil and contaminated soil. Notably, H2O AutoML can detect PE-MPs as low as 0.1 % (with 100 % accuracy) and co-contamination of PE-MPs and fomesafen (with 90 % accuracy) in soil. The VIP and SHAP analyses of the H2O AutoML showed that PE-MPs and the co-contamination of PE-MPs and fomesafen significantly interfered with the antioxidant system and energy regulation of soybean. We hope this study can provide a reliable scientific basis for sustainable development of the environment.

The cluster analysis of traditional Chinese medicine authenticity identification technique assisted by chemometrics

This study explore the authenticity identification technique of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) using chemometrics in conjunction with cluster analysis. A clustering Gaussian mixture model was constructed and applied for the data clustering analysis of four types of TCM. Chemical measurements combined with discrete wavelet transform (DWT), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Fourier self-deconvolution (FSD) were utilized for the detailed differentiation of Bupleurum scorzonerifolium, Bupleurum yinchowense, Bupleurum marginatum, and Bupleurum smithii Wolff var. parvifolium. Differences in the attenuated total reflection-FTIR (ATR-FTIR) spectra among the four TCMs were observed. Utilizing clustering algorithms, the one-dimensional DWT of the infrared spectra of samples was employed for the authentication of Chinese herbal medicines. The model demonstrates optimal performance throughout 2000 rounds of network training. The accuracy (88.6 %), sensitivity (86.5 %), and specificity (82.7 %) of the model constructed in this study significantly surpassed those of the CNN model: accuracy (67.7 %), sensitivity (70.4 %), and specificity (68.5 %) (P < 0.05). By setting the cluster size K = 5 and the number of Gaussian mixture model components to 5, the model effectively fits the actual number of categories within the dataset. Infrared spectroscopy analysis revealed distinct carbon-oxygen stretching vibration absorption peaks between 1025 and 1200 cm-1 for Bupleurum scorzonerifolium, Bupleurum yinchowense, Bupleurum marginatum, and Bupleurum smithii Wolff var. parvifolium, indicating strong absorption peaks of carbohydrates. A comprehensive structural information analysis revealed a similarity of above 0.982 among the four types of TCM. Combined with chemometrics and intelligent algorithm-based cluster analysis, successful and accurate authentication of TCM authenticity was achieved, providing an effective methodology for quality control in TCM.

Flower Species Ingredient Verification Using Orthogonal Molecular Methods

Flowers are gaining considerable interest among consumers as ingredients in food, beverages, cosmetics, and natural health products. The supply chain trades in multiple forms of botanicals, including fresh whole flowers, which are easier to identify than dried flowers or flowers processed as powdered or liquid extracts. There is a gap in the scientific methods available for the verification of flower species ingredients traded in the supply chains of multiple markets. The objective of this paper is to develop methods for flower species ingredient verification using two orthogonal methods. More specifically, the objectives of this study employed both (1) DNA-based molecular diagnostic methods and (2) NMR metabolite fingerprint methods in the identification of 23 common flower species ingredients. NMR data analysis reveals considerable information on the variation in metabolites present in different flower species, including color variants within species. This study provides a comprehensive comparison of two orthogonal methods for verifying flower species ingredient supply chains to ensure the highest quality products. By thoroughly analyzing the benefits and limitations of each approach, this research offers valuable insights to support quality assurance and improve consumer confidence.

Origin differentiation based on volatile constituents of genuine medicinal materials Quisqualis indica L. via HS-GC-MS, response surface methodology, and chemometrics

INTRODUCTION

Quisqualis indica L. (QIL) has a long history as a traditional Chinese herb in China, but the study of volatile components in QIL from different geographical sources has been relatively rare.

OBJECTIVES

To establish an optimal headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS) method to comprehensively analyse the volatile component profile and screen quality markers of QIL from different origins.

METHODS

Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimise the conditions for headspace analysis. The volatile components of QIL from four main origins of southwest China were analysed and identified by HS-GC-MS. The similarity of all samples of QIL was evaluated by fingerprint. The differences of the volatile components in QIL from different origins were distinguished by chemometrics.

RESULTS

According to the optimal conditions of RSM, a total of 31 volatile components were identified, including fatty acids, aldehydes, alcohols, alkyl pyrazines, and other volatile components. Similarity evaluation presented that there were 26 common volatile components with different contents in all samples. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that QIL from four different origins could be roughly divided into four categories. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) indicated that QIL from different origins had obvious regional characteristics.

CONCLUSION

The optimised HS-GC-MS method provided a strategy to rapidly, effectively, and accurately elucidate the volatile component profile of QIL from different origins, and seven important differential components were screened for quality evaluation and origin traceability.

Recent trends of machine learning applied to multi-source data of medicinal plants

In traditional medicine and ethnomedicine, medicinal plants have long been recognized as the basis for materials in therapeutic applications worldwide. In particular, the remarkable curative effect of traditional Chinese medicine during corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has attracted extensive attention globally. Medicinal plants have, therefore, become increasingly popular among the public. However, with increasing demand for and profit with medicinal plants, commercial fraudulent events such as adulteration or counterfeits sometimes occur, which poses a serious threat to the clinical outcomes and interests of consumers. With rapid advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning can be used to mine information on various medicinal plants to establish an ideal resource database. We herein present a review that mainly introduces common machine learning algorithms and discusses their application in multi-source data analysis of medicinal plants. The combination of machine learning algorithms and multi-source data analysis facilitates a comprehensive analysis and aids in the effective evaluation of the quality of medicinal plants. The findings of this review provide new possibilities for promoting the development and utilization of medicinal plants.

Machine learning applications for multi-source data of edible crops: A review of current trends and future prospects

The quality and safety of edible crops are key links inseparable from human health and nutrition. In the era of rapid development of artificial intelligence, using it to mine multi-source information on edible crops provides new opportunities for industrial development and market supervision of edible crops. This review comprehensively summarized the applications of multi-source data combined with machine learning in the quality evaluation of edible crops. Multi-source data can provide more comprehensive and rich information from a single data source, as it can integrate different data information. Supervised and unsupervised machine learning is applied to data analysis to achieve different requirements for the quality evaluation of edible crops. Emphasized the advantages and disadvantages of techniques and analysis methods, the problems that need to be overcome, and promising development directions were proposed. To monitor the market in real-time, the quality evaluation methods of edible crops must be innovated.

Network pharmacology and fingerprint for the integrated analysis of mechanism, identification and prediction in Panax notoginseng

INTRODUCTION

Panax notoginseng (Burkill) F. H. Chen ex C. H. Chow, is a well-known herb with multitudinous efficacy. In this study, a series of overall analyses on the action mechanism, component content, origin identification, and content prediction of P. notoginseng are conducted.

OBJECTIVES

The purpose was to analyse the mechanism of pharmacological efficacy, differences between contents and groups of P. notoginseng from different origins, and to identify the origin and predict the content.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The P. notoginseng samples from four different origins were used for analysis by the database, network pharmacology (Q-marker) and fingerprint analysis [high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) and near-infrared (NIR)] combined with data fusion strategy (low- and feature-level).

RESULTS

Four saponins were identified as Q-markers, and exerted pharmacological effects on signalling pathways through 24 core targets. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of HPLC showed that there were differences among groups and different origins. Therefore, considering the need to treat diseases, combined with network database and network pharmacology, the suitable producing areas were determined through the mechanism of action and the required saponin content. The low-level data fusion successfully identified the origin and predicted the content of P. notoginseng from different origins. The accuracy rate of each evaluation index of the partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model was 1, and the t-SNE (t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding) visualisation results were good. The coefficient of determination (R2 ) of the partial least squares regression (PLSR) model ranged from 0.9235-0.9996, and the root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) range is 0.301-1.519.

CONCLUSION

This study was designed to provide a sufficient theoretical basis for the quality control of P. notoginseng.

Detection of dextran, maltodextrin and soluble starch in the adulterated Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBPs) using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and machine learning models

Due to the similar chemical structures and physicochemical properties, it is challenging to distinguish dextran, maltodextrin, and soluble starch from the polysaccharide products of plant origin, such as Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBPs). Using the first-order derivatives of Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR, wave range 1800-400 cm^-1), this study proposed a two-step pipeline to identify dextran, maltodextrin, and soluble starch from adulterated LBPs samples qualitatively and quantitatively. We applied principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the dimensionality of FTIR features. For the qualitative step, a set of machine learning models, including logistic regression, support vector machine (SVM), Naïve Bayes, and partial least squares (PLS), were used to classify the adulterants. For the quantitative step, linear regression, LASSO, random forest, and PLS were used to predict the concentration of LBPs adulterants. The results showed that logistic regression and SVM are suitable for classifying adulterants, and random forests is superior for predicting adulterant concentrations. This would be the first attempt to discriminate the adulterants from the polysaccharide's product of plant origin. The proposed two-step methods can be easily extended to other applications for the quantitative and qualitative detection of samples from adulterants with similar chemical structures.

Comparative Study on Chemical Constituents of Ginseng Flowers with Four Consecutive Cultivation Age

The harvest period of cultivated ginseng is generally 4-6 years. Ginseng flowers (GFs), the nonmedicinal parts, are usually removed every autumn, in which components are generally believed to stay unchanged with the increasing cultivation age. Recently, few documents were reported on the variation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other components about ginseng flowers. This study had an insight into the variation of the chemical constituents with the cultivation ages through the comparison of the volatile organic compounds, gross ginsenosides, crude polysaccharide, and gross proteins of ginseng flowers from 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-yr-old (GF3, GF4, GF5, and GF6) which were conducted by headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-QQQ/MS) and spectroscopic analysis combined with multivariate statistical analysis, including one-way ANOVA analysis and T test. The results indicated that the crude polysaccharide contents raised significantly depending on cultivation age except 6-yr-old, whereas the gross ginsenosides and the gross protein content were indistinctive. According to the peak intensity of determined VOCs, the contents of most differential compounds arranged in an order from high to low are GF3, GF4, GF5, and GF6, such as the compounds 2-15, 17-19, 22, and 25-26, therefore, they can be inferred that they are important markers to identify the age of GFs. 461 common differential compounds were gained and 26 common volatile organic compounds were identified with RSI >800 and RI and RIx no more than 30, including alcohols (such as 11, 12, and 15), sesquiterpenes (such as 2, 3, and 4), esters (such as 1 and 26), naphthalene and naphthol (such as 7 and 20), which had potential effects on curing Alzheimer's disease, inflammatory diseases, and prostate cancer based on network pharmacology analysis. This paper firstly revealed the variation rules of constitutions of GFs, which may provide a reference for the harvest and making rational application.

Non-Targeted Analytical Technology in Herbal Medicines: Applications, Challenges, and Perspectives

Herbal medicines (HMs) have been utilized to prevent and treat human ailments for thousands of years. Especially, HMs have recently played a crucial role in the treatment of COVID-19 in China. However, HMs are susceptible to various factors during harvesting, processing, and marketing, affecting their clinical efficacy. Therefore, it is necessary to conclude a rapid and effective method to study HMs so that they can be used in the clinical setting with maximum medicinal value. Non-targeted analytical technology is a reliable analytical method for studying HMs because of its unique advantages in analyzing unknown components. Based on the extensive literature, the paper summarizes the benefits, limitations, and applicability of non-targeted analytical technology. Moreover, the article describes the application of non-targeted analytical technology in HMs from four aspects: structure analysis, authentication, real-time monitoring, and quality assessment. Finally, the review has prospected the development trend and challenges of non-targeted analytical technology. It can assist HMs industry researchers and engineers select non-targeted analytical technology to analyze HMs' quality and authenticity.

Review of Recent Modern Analytical Technology Combined with Chemometrics Approach Researches on Mushroom Discrimination and Evaluation

Mushroom is a macrofungus with precious fruiting body, as a food, a tonic, and a medicine, human have discovered and used mushrooms for thousands of years. Nowadays, mushroom is also a "super food" recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and favored by consumers. Discrimination of mushroom including species, geographic origin, storage time, etc., is an important prerequisite to ensure their edible safety and commodity quality. Moreover, the effective evaluation of its chemical composition can help us better understand the nutritional properties of mushrooms. Modern analytical technologies such as chromatography, spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, etc., are widely used in the discrimination and evaluation researches of mushrooms, and chemometrics is an effective means of scientifically processing the multidimensional information hidden in these analytical technologies. This review will outline the latest applications of modern analytical technology combined with chemometrics in qualitative and quantitative analysis and quality control of mushrooms in recent years. Briefly describe the basic principles of these technologies, and the analytical processes of common chemometrics in mushroom researches will be summarized. Finally, the limitations and application prospects of chromatography, spectroscopy and mass spectrometry technology are discussed in mushroom quality control and evaluation.

Study on Secondary Metabolites of Endophytic Fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus, from Crocus sativus L. Guided byUHPLC-HRMS/MS-Based Molecular Network

As a traditional Chinese medicine, Crocus sativus Linn has been used for a long time in China. However, the studies on secondary metabolites of its endophytic fungi were not fully sufficient. Thus, the endophytic fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus, collected from the lateral buds of C. sativus, was here investigated. An approach combining UHPLC-HRMS/MS (ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry) with molecular network was carried out to construct a molecular network of crude EtOAc extract (CEE) of A. fumigatus, in which 32 chemical compounds were annotated. On the basis of analysis results, a total of 15 known natural compounds were isolated from CEE. Among them, compounds 11 and 12 were isolated for the first time from the genus Aspergillus. Moreover, CEE and compound 7 exhibited moderate inhibitory activity against Erwinia sp. with a MIC value of 100 μg/mL. This study provided a more convenient and rapid approach to investigating the crude extract with complex components of A. fumigatus, which is of great benefit to the further study and utilization of secondary metabolites of the genus Aspergillus.

A Novel Multi-Preprocessing Integration Method for the Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment of Wild Medicinal Plants: Gentiana rigescens as an Example

Until now, the over-exploitation of wild resources has increased growing concern over the quality of wild medicinal plants. This led to the necessity of developing a rapid method for the evaluation of wild medicinal plants. In this study, the content of total secoiridoids (gentiopicroside, swertiamarin, and sweroside) of Gentiana rigescens from 37 different regions in southwest China were analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Furthermore, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) was adopted to trace the geographical origin (331 individuals) and predict the content of total secoiridoids (273 individuals). In the traditional FT-IR analysis, only one scatter correction technique could be selected from a series of preprocessing candidates to decrease the impact of the light correcting effect. Nevertheless, different scatter correction techniques may carry complementary information so that using the single scatter correction technique is sub-optimal. Hence, the emerging ensemble approach to preprocessing fusion, sequential preprocessing through orthogonalization (SPORT), was carried out to fuse the complementary information linked to different preprocessing methods. The results suggested that, compared with the best results obtained on the scatter correction modeling, SPORT increased the accuracy of the test set by 12.8% in qualitative analysis and decreased the RMSEP by 66.7% in quantitative analysis.

Superiority Verification of Deep Learning in the Identification of Medicinal Plants: Taking Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis as an Example

Medicinal plants have a variety of values and are an important source of new drugs and their lead compounds. They have played an important role in the treatment of cancer, AIDS, COVID-19 and other major and unconquered diseases. However, there are problems such as uneven quality and adulteration. Therefore, it is of great significance to find comprehensive, efficient and modern technology for its identification and evaluation to ensure quality and efficacy. In this study, deep learning, which is superior to conventional identification techniques, was extended to the identification of the part and region of the medicinal plant Paris polyphylla var. yunnanensis from the perspective of spectroscopy. Two pattern recognition models, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and support vector machine (SVM), were established, and the overall discrimination performance of the three types of models was compared. In addition, we also compared the effects of different sample sizes on the discriminant performance of the models for the first time to explore whether the three models had sample size dependence. The results showed that the deep learning model had absolute superiority in the identification of medicinal plant. It was almost unaffected by factors such as data type and sample size. The overall identification ability was significantly better than the PLS-DA and SVM models. This study verified the superiority of the deep learning from examples, and provided a practical reference for related research on other medicinal plants.