Processing for deodorization is widely used in the production of animal-derived Chinese medicinal materials. In this study, Heracles Neo ultra-fast gas-phase electronic nose combined with chemometrics was employed to analyze the overall odor difference of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum(focusing on that derived from Cervus nippon Temminck in this study) before and after processing. The results showed that the electronic nose effectively distinguished between the medicinal materials and decoction pieces of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum. HS-GC-MS was used to identify and quantify the volatile components in the medicinal materials and decoction pieces of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum, and 35 and 37 volatile components were detected in the medicinal materials and decoction pieces, respectively. The medicinal materials and decoction pieces contained 28 common volatile components contributing to the odor of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum. The odor activity value(OAV) of each volatile component was calculated based on the olfactory threshold and relative content. The results showed that there were 17 key odor substances such as isovaleraldehyde, 2-methylbutanal, isobutyraldehyde, hexanal, and methanethiol in the medicinal materials and decoction pieces of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum. All of them had bad odor and were the main source of the odor of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum. The results of principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) showed that there were significant differences in volatile components between the medicinal materials and decoction pieces of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum. Based on the thresholds of P<0.05 and Variable Importance in Projection(VIP)>1, 21 differential volatile odor components were screened out. Among them, isopentanol, isovaleraldehyde, 2-methylbutanal, n-nonanal, and dimethylamine were the key differential odor compounds between the medicinal materials and decoction pieces of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum. The odor compounds and their relative content reduced, and some flavor substances such as esters were produced after processing with wine, which was the main reason for the reduction of the odor after processing of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum.
Odorants/analysis* ; Electronic Nose ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Animals ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis* ; Deer ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/chemistry*

The study investigated the intrinsic changes in material basis of Angelicae Sinensis Radix during wine processing by headspace-gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry(HS-GC-IMS), headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(HS-SPME-GC-MS), and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-orbitrap mass spectrometry(UPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS) combined with chemometrics. HS-GC-IMS fingerprints of Angelicae Sinensis Radix before and after wine processing were established to analyze the variation trends of volatile components and characterize volatile small-molecule substances before and after processing. Principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) were employed for differentiation and difference analysis. A total of 89 volatile components in Angelicae Sinensis Radix were identified by HS-GC-IMS, including 14 unsaturated hydrocarbons, 16 aldehydes, 13 ketones, 9 alcohols, 16 esters, 6 organic acids, and 15 other compounds. HS-SPME-GC-MS detected 118 volatile components, comprising 42 unsaturated hydrocarbons, 11 aromatic compounds, 30 alcohols, 8 alkanes, 6 organic acids, 4 ketones, 7 aldehydes, 5 esters, and 5 other volatile compounds. UPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS identified 76 non-volatile compounds. PCA revealed distinct clusters of raw and wine-processed Angelicae Sinensis Radix samples across the three detection methods. Both PCA and OPLS-DA effectively discriminated between the two groups, and 145 compounds(VIP>1) were identified as critical markers for evaluating processing quality, including 4-methyl-3-penten-2-one, ethyl 2-methylpentanoate, and 2,4-dimethyl-1,3-dioxolane detected by HS-GC-IMS, angelic acid, β-pinene, and germacrene B detected by HS-SPME-GC-MS, and L-tryptophan, licoricone, and angenomalin detected by UPLC-Q-Orbitrap-MS. In conclusion, the integration of the three detection methods with chemometrics elucidates the differences in the chemical material basis between raw and wine-processed Angelicae Sinensis Radix, providing a scientific foundation for understanding the processing mechanisms and clinical applications of wine-processed Angelicae Sinensis Radix.
Wine/analysis* ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods* ; Angelica sinensis/chemistry* ; Solid Phase Microextraction/methods* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/isolation & purification* ; Chemometrics ; Volatile Organic Compounds/chemistry* ; Principal Component Analysis ; Ion Mobility Spectrometry/methods*

A method for determining volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from medical molecular sieve oxygen concentrators was developed using thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). The oxygen concentrator gas was sampled at a flow rate of 0.5 L/min through a branched sampling system onto Tenax GR/carbopack B adsorption tubes. The adsorbed compounds were desorbed and introduced using a programmed temperature vaporization inlet system, followed by chromatographic separation on an SH-I-624Sil MS column. Four VOCs (BHT-Q, PTBP, BHT-quinol, and EHB) were detected in the medical oxygen concentrator using this method. Calibration curves for these compounds exhibited excellent linearity ( R ²>0.99) within the range of 3~100 ng. With a sampling volume of 20 L, the detection limit of the four VOCs ranged from 0.003 9 to 0.022 2 μg/m ³. Spike recovery rates for the four VOCs were between 95% and 115%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 5% ( n=6). The method is simple, rapid, highly sensitive, and accurate, making it suitable for VOCs detection in medical molecular sieve oxygen concentrators.
Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis* ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Oxygen

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between short-term exposure to indoor total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) and nocturnal heart rate variability (HRV) among young female adults. METHODS: This panel study recruited 50 young females from one university in Beijing, China from December 2021 to April 2022. All the participants underwent two sequential visits. During each visit, real time indoor TVOC concentration was monitored using an indoor air quality detector. The real time levels of indoor temperature, relative humidity, noise, carbon dioxide and fine particulate matter were monitored using a temperature and humidity meter, a noise meter, a carbon dioxide meter and a particulate counter, respectively. HRV parameters were measured using a 12-lead Holter. Mixed-effects models were used to evaluate the association between the TVOC and HRV parameters and establish the exposure-response relationships, and two-pollutant models were applied to examine the robustness of the results. RESULTS: The mean age of the 50 female subjects was (22.5±2.3) years, and the mean body mass index was (20.4±1.9) kg/m². During this study, the median (interquartile range) of indoor TVOC concentrations was 0.069 (0.046) mg/m³, the median (interquartile range) of indoor temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, noise level and fine particulate matter concentration were 24.3 (2.7) ℃, 38.5% (15.0%), 0.1% (0.1%), 52.7 (5.8) dB(A) and 10.3 (21.5) μg/m³, respectively. Short-term exposure to indoor TVOC was associated with significant changes in time-domain and frequency-domain HRV parameters, and the exposure metric for most HRV parameters with the most significant changes was 1 h-moving average. Along with a 0.01 mg/m³ increment in 1 h-moving average concentration of indoor TVOC, this study observed decreases of 1.89% (95%CI: -2.28%, -1.50%) in standard deviation of all normal to normal intervals (SDNN), 1.92% (95%CI: -2.32%, -1.51%) in standard deviation of average normal to normal intervals (SDANN), 0.64% (95%CI: -1.13%, -0.14%) in percentage of adjacent NN intervals differing by more than 50 ms (pNN50), 3.52% (95%CI: -4.30%, -2.74%) in total power (TP), 5.01% (95%CI: -6.21%, -3.79%) in very low frequency (VLF) power, and 4.36% (95%CI: -5.16%, -3.55%) in low frequency (LF) power. The exposure-response curves showed that indoor TVOC was negatively correlated with SDNN, SDANN, TP, and VLF when the concentration exceeded 0.1 mg/m³. The two-pollutant models indicated that the results were generally robust after controlling indoor noise and fine particulate matter. CONCLUSION Short-term exposure to indoor TVOC was associated with significant negative changes in nocturnal HRV of young women. This study provides an important scientific basis for relevant prevention and control measures.
Humans ; Female ; Adult ; Young Adult ; Air Pollutants/analysis* ; Heart Rate/physiology* ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis* ; Carbon Dioxide ; Particulate Matter/adverse effects* ; Environmental Pollutants

The odor fingerprint of Pollygonati Rhizoma samples with different mildewing degrees was analyzed and the relationship between the odor variation and the mildewing degree was explored. A fast discriminant model was established according to the response intensity of electronic nose. The α-FOX3000 electronic nose was applied to analyze the odor fingerprint of Pollygonati Rhizoma samples with different mildewing degrees and the radar map was used to analyze the main contributors among the volatile organic compounds. The feature data were processed and analyzed by partial least squares discriminant analysis(PLS-DA), K-nearest neighbor(KNN), sequential minimal optimization(SMO), random forest(RF) and naive Bayes(NB), respectively. According to the radar map of the electronic nose, the response values of three sensors, namely T70/2, T30/1, and P10/2, increased with the mildewing, indicating that the Pollygonati Rhizoma produced alkanes and aromatic compounds after the mildewing. According to PLS-DA model, Pollygonati Rhizoma samples of three mildewing degrees could be well distinguished in three areas. Afterwards, the variable importance analysis of the sensors was carried out and then five sensors that contributed a lot to the classification were screened out: T70/2, T30/1, PA/2, P10/1 and P40/1. The classification accuracy of all the four models(KNN, SMO, RF, and NB) was above 90%, and KNN was most accurate(accuracy: 97.2%). Different volatile organic compounds were produced after the mildewing of Pollygonati Rhizoma, and they could be detected by electronic nose, which laid a foundation for the establishment of a rapid discrimination model for mildewed Pollygonati Rhizoma. This paper shed lights on further research on change pattern and quick detection of volatile organic compounds in moldy Chinese herbal medicines.
Electronic Nose ; Odorants/analysis* ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis* ; Bayes Theorem ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/analysis* ; Discriminant Analysis

Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum(GGEC) is commonly used for the clinical treatment of indigestion, vomiting, diarrhea, and infantile malnutrition with accumulation. In recent decades, omnivorous domestic chickens, the original source of GGEC, has been replaced by broilers, which may lead to significant changes in the quality of the yielding GGEC. Through subjective and objective sensory evaluation, biological evaluation, and chemical analysis, this study compared the odor and quality between GGEC derived from domestic chickens and that from broilers. The odor intensity between them was compared by odor profile analysis and it was found that the fishy odor of GGEC derived from domestic chickens was significantly weaker than that of GGEC from broilers. Headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry(HS-SPME/GC-QQQ-MS/MS) suggested that the overall odor-causing chemicals were consistent with the fishy odor-causing chemicals. According to the odor activity va-lue and the orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis(OPLS-DA) result, dimethyl trisulfide, 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine, and 2-methylisoborneol were responsible for the fishy odor(OAV≥1) and the content of fishy odor-causing chemicals in GGEC derived from broilers was 1.12-2.13 folds that in GGEC from domestic chickens. The average pepsin potency in GGEC derived from broilers was 15.679 U·mg~(-1), and the corresponding figure for the medicinal from domestic chickens was 26.529 U·mg~(-1). The results of pre-column derivatization reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography(RP-HPLC) assay showed that the content of total amino acids and digestion-promoting amino acids in domestic chickens-derived GGEC was 1.12 times and 1.15 times that in GGEC from broilers, and the bitter amino acid content was 1.21 times folds that of the latter. In conclusion, GGEC derived from domestic chickens had weaker fishy odor, stronger enzyme activity, higher content of digestion-promoting amino acids, and stronger bitter taste than GGEC from broilers. This study lays a scientific basis for studying the quality variation of GGEC and provides a method for identifying high-quality GGEC. Therefore, it is of great significance for the development and cultivation of GGEC as both food and medicine and breeding of corresponding varieties.
Animals ; Odorants/analysis* ; Chickens ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry ; Solid Phase Microextraction ; Amino Acids ; Endothelium/chemistry* ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis*

Objective: To establish a method for rapid detection of DB-WAX capillary column and determination of the workplace air in 30 kinds of volatile organic pollutants. Methods: In August 2020, N-pentane, n-hexane, methylcyclohexane, octane, Acetone, ethyl acetate, butanone, benzene, 3-pentanone, trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene, toluene, butyl acetate, 2-hexanone, Isoamyl acetate, ethylbenzene, p-xylene, m-xylene, amyl acetate, o-xylene, chlorobenzene, styrene, cyclohexanone, P-chlorotoluene, bromobenzene, M-dichlorobenzene, p-dichlorobenzene, O-dichlorobenzene, o-Chlorotoluene, 1, 2 , 4-trichlorobenzene of 30 kinds of substances in air were collected by activated carbon tube. After analysis by carbon disulfide, the analytical solution was analyzed by DB-WAX column and determined by FID detector. Results: The above 30 kinds of volatile organic pollutants had good separation effect, the correlation coefficient of the standard curve was above 0.999, the relative standard deviation was 0.1%-3.2%, the desorption efficiency was 77.0%-117.1% , the lower limit of quantitation was 0.33-5.33 μg/ml, and the lowest quantitation concentration was 0.22-3.55 mg/m(3), the recoveries ranged was 95.4%-104.9%. Conclusion: The method can effectively separate and accurately determine 30 volatile organic compounds in these workplaces, and the method is simple and quick.
Air Pollutants, Occupational/analysis* ; Benzene/analysis* ; Chromatography, Gas ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis* ; Workplace

The volatile oil of Chuanxiong Rhizoma(CX) is known as an effective fraction. In order to seek a suitable method for processing CX and its decoction pieces, this study selected 16 volatile components as indices to investigate how different processing methods such as washing/without washing, sun-drying, baking, oven-drying and far-infrared drying at different temperatures affected the quality of CX and its decoction pieces(fresh CX was partially dried, cut into pieces, and then dried) by headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS), cluster analysis, principal component analysis and comprehensive weighted scoring. The results showed that the rapid washing before processing did not deteriorate the volatile components of CX. Considering the practical condition of production area, oven-drying was believed to be more suitable than sun-drying, baking, and far-infrared drying. The CX decoction pieces with a thickness of 0.3-0.4 cm were recommended to be oven-dried at 50 ℃. The integrated processing(partial drying, cutting into pieces, and drying) did not cause a significant loss of volatile components. For the fresh CX, the oven-drying at 60 ℃ is preferred. The temperature should not exceed 60 ℃, and drying below 60 ℃ will prolong the processing time, which will produce an unfavorable effect on volatile components. This study has provided the scientific evidence for field processing of CX, which is conducive to realizing the normalization and standardization of CX processing in the production area and stabilizing the quality of CX and its decoction pieces.
Desiccation ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Oils, Volatile ; Principal Component Analysis ; Rhizome/chemistry* ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis*

Radiotherapy uses high-energy X-rays or other particles to destroy cancer cells and medical practitioners have used this approach extensively for cancer treatment (Hachadorian et al., 2020). However, it is accompanied by risks because it seriously harms normal cells while killing cancer cells. The side effects can lower cancer patients' quality of life and are very unpredictable due to individual differences (Bentzen, 2006). Therefore, it is essential to assess a patient's body damage after radiotherapy to formulate an individualized recovery treatment plan. Exhaled volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be changed by radiotherapy and thus used for medical diagnosis (Vaks et al., 2012). During treatment, high-energy X-rays can induce apoptosis; meanwhile, cell membranes are damaged due to lipid peroxidation, converting unsaturated fatty acids into volatile metabolites (Losada-Barreiro and Bravo-Díaz, 2017). At the same time, radiotherapy oxidizes water, resulting in reactive oxygen species (ROS) that can increase the epithelial permeability of pulmonary alveoli, enabling the respiratory system to exhale volatile metabolites (Davidovich et al., 2013; Popa et al., 2020). These exhaled VOCs can be used to monitor body damage caused by radiotherapy.
Breath Tests/methods* ; Exhalation ; Humans ; Quality of Life ; Respiratory System/chemistry* ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis*

This study adopted headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(HS-GC-MS) and electronic nose to detect volatile components from Myristicae Semen samples with varying degrees of mildew, aiming at rapidly identifying odor changes and substance basis of Myristicae Semen mildew. The experimental data were analyzed by electronic nose and principal component analysis(PCA). The results showed that Myristicae Semen samples were divided into the following three categories by electronic nose and PCA: mildew-free samples, slightly mildewy samples, and mildewy samples. Myristicae Semen samples with different degrees of mildew greatly varied in volatile components. The volatile components in the samples were qualitatively and quantitatively detected by HS-GC-MS, and 59 compounds were obtained. There were significant differences in the composition and content in Myristicae Semen samples with different degrees of mildew. The PCA results were the same as those by electronic nose. Among them, 3-crene, D-limonene, and other terpenes were important indicators for the identification of mildew. Bicyclo[3.1.0]hexane, 4-methylene-1-(1-methylethyl)-, terpinen-4-ol, and other alcohols were key substances to distinguish the degree of mildew. In the later stage of mildew, Myristicae Semen produced a small amount of hydroxyl and aldehyde compounds such as acetaldehyde, 2-methyl-propionaldehyde, 2-methyl-butyraldehyde, and formic acid, which were deduced as the material basis of the mildew. The results are expected to provide a basis for the rapid identification of Myristicae Semen with different degrees of mildew, odor changes, and the substance basis of mildew.
Electronic Nose ; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry ; Odorants/analysis* ; Semen/chemistry* ; Solid Phase Microextraction ; Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis*