Exploration on Varying Patterns of Morphological Features and Quality of Armeniacae Semen Amarum in Rancid Process Based on Colorimeter, Electronic Nose, and GC/MS Coupled With Human Panel

• Published in: Frontiers in pharmacology 2022-05, Vol.13, p.599979-599979
• Main Authors: Shao, Yuanyang, Chen, Huirong, Lin, Hongxin, Feng, Huishang, Gong, Jianting, Cao, Guangzhao, Hong, Weifeng, Yao, Yuebao, Zou, Huiqin, Yan, Yonghong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: armeniacae semen amarum; colorimeter; electronic nose; gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; human panel; Pharmacology
• ISSN: 1663-9812; 1663-9812
• DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.599979

In recent years, the domestic and international trade volumes of Chinese medicinal materials (CMMs) keep increasing. By the end of 2019, the total amount of exported CMMs reached as high as US $1.137 billion, while imported was US $2.155 billion. A stable and controllable quality system of CMMs apparently becomes the most important issue, which needs multifaceted collaboration from harvesting CMMs at a proper season to storing CMMs at a proper temperature. However, due to imperfect storage conditions, different kinds of deteriorations are prone to occur, for instance, get moldy or rancid, which not only causes a huge waste of CMM resources but also poses a great threat to clinical medication safety and public health. The key issue is to quickly and accurately distinguish deteriorated CMM samples so as to avoid consuming low-quality or even harmful CMMs. However, some attention has been paid to study the changing quality of deteriorated CMMs and a suitable method for identifying them. In this study, as a medicine and food material which easily becomes rancid, armeniacae semen amarum (ASA) was chosen as a research objective, and experimental ASA samples of different rancidness degrees were collected. Then, various kinds of analytical methods and technologies were applied to explore the changing rules of ASA quality and figure out the key indicators for the quality evaluation of ASA in the rancid process, including the human panel, colorimeter, electronic nose, and GC/MS. This study aims to analyze the correlation between the external morphological features and the inner chemical compounds, to find out the specific components from "quantitative change" to "qualitative change" in the process of "getting rancid," and to discover the dynamic changes in the aforementioned key indicators at different stages of rancidness. The results showed since ASA samples began to get rancid with the extension of storage time, morphological features, namely, surface color and smell, changed significantly, and the degree of rancidness further deepened at the same time. Based on macroscopic identification accomplished the human panel, ASA samples with varying degrees of rancidness were divided into four groups. The result of colorimeter analysis was in agreement with that of the human panel, as well as the determination of the amygdalin content and peroxide value. Moreover, there were obvious differences in the amygdalin content and peroxide value among ASA samples with different