Progress in Immunoassays of Toxic Alkaloids in Plant-Derived Medicines: A Review

Reports of tropane alkaloid poisonings and analytical techniques for their determination in food crops and products from 2013 to 2023

Food safety is crucial to attaining food security and sustainability. Unsafe foods for human and animal consumption lead to product recalls and rejection, negatively impacting the global economy and trade. Similarly, climate change can adversely affect the availability of safe and nutritious food at the table. The changing climatic conditions and global food trade and transport can make the movement of toxic plants possible, resulting in food crops being increasingly invaded by some species of plants that produce toxic secondary metabolites, such as tropane alkaloids (TAs). Datura stramonium from the Solanaceae plant family is an invasive and virulent plant that produces high amounts of two TAs, atropine and scopolamine. Various food poisoning events following accidental or deliberate ingestion of foods contaminated by atropine and scopolamine from seeds of D. stramonium have been recorded in different locations globally. Due to these incidents, regulatory agencies require the development of plant toxin detection methods that can be used in the food chain as early as possible. This systematic review thus focuses on the TA determination techniques in food and feeds published between 2013 and 2023. A particular focus was given to the sample preparation methods, the improvements of each technique claimed, and data to support the performance of each method, especially the ability to measure at or below the maximum level. The review concludes with other technological advancements, including rapid spectroscopy, electrophoresis, and colorimetric methods, as well as the possibility of coupling with smartphones for use in on-farm detection and the challenges in applying them.

Chemical component of differences in the endosperm of Gleditsia species seeds revealed based on comparative metabolomics

To investigate the chemical composition and interfunctional differences among the endosperm of Gleditsia species seeds (EGS), this study was conducted to determine the metabolic profiles in three EGSs based on the metabolomics approach of UPLC-ESI-MS/MS. A total of 505 metabolites were identified, of which 156 metabolites of EGS were annotated as pharmaceutical ingredients for six human diseases. A total of 110, 146, and 104 metabolites showed different accumulation patterns in the three control groups, LEGS vs. MEGS, LEGS vs. SEGS, and MEGS vs. SEGS, respectively. The metabolic profiles of EGSs differed significantly, and KEGG annotation and enrichment analyses indicated aminoacyl-tRNA biosynthesis as the key metabolic pathway of EGSs. This study enriches the understanding of the chemical composition of EGSs and provides theoretical support for the development and application of EGSs.