An Improved Technique for Trimethylamine Detection in Animal-Derived Medicine by Headspace Gas Chromatography-Tandem Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry

Summary

Here, a headspace gas chromatography-tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS/MS) method suitable for the determination of trimethylamine (TMA) in animal-derived medicines is described. The protocol includes sample pretreatment, headspace treatment, analysis conditions, methodological validation, and the determination of TMA in animal-derived medicines.

Abstract

Animal-derived medicines have distinctive characteristics and significant curative effects, but most of them have an obvious fishy odor, resulting in the poor compliance of clinical patients. Trimethylamine (TMA) is one of the key fishy odor components in animal-derived medicine. It is difficult to identify TMA accurately using the existing detection method due to the increased pressure in the headspace vial caused by the rapid acid-base reaction after the addition of lye, which causes TMA to escape from the headspace vial, stalling the research progress of the fishy odor of animal-derived medicine. In this study, we proposed a controlled detection method that introduced a paraffin layer as an isolation layer between acid and lye. The rate of TMA production could be effectively controlled by slowly liquefying the paraffin layer through thermostatic furnace heating. This method showed satisfactory linearity, precision experiments, and recoveries with good reproducibility and high sensitivity. It provided technical support for the deodorization of animal-derived medicine.

Introduction

Treating human diseases by utilizing products derived from animal parts and/or their by-products (referred to here as animal-derived medicines) is receiving increased attention. They play an important role in treating cancer, cardiovascular disease, liver cirrhosis, mastitis, and other diseases, with the advantages of a strong effect, small dosage, and significant and specific clinical efficacy. However, animal-derived medicines generally have a prominent fishy odor, which greatly affects patients' compliance, and are especially unfavorable for children^1,2. The fishy odor mainly comes from the proteins, am....

Protocol

See Table 1 for information on the medicinal materials of Pheretima, Periplaneta americana, and Hirudo. They were identified by Prof. Xu Runchun, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, as the dried bodies of Pheretima aspergillum (E.Perrier), Periplaneta americana L., and Whitmania pigra Whitman.

1. Specimen extraction

1. Crush Pheretima, Periplaneta americana, and Hirudo with an herbal grinder (see Table of Materials), sift the medicinal powder through No. 2 (sieve aperture: 0.8 mm) and N....

Results

Schematic diagrams of the pre-processing principle and operation of this protocol are shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2, respectively. The peak time of TMA was 2.3 min, with a sharp peak shape and no interference from other impurities (Figure 3). Measuring the linear range of 0.1-10 µg/mL TMA standard solution, with TMA concentration as the abscissa and peak area as the ordinate, a standard curve was drawn. The linear regression equati.......

Discussion

Animal-derived medicines come from the whole body, organs or tissues, physiological or pathological products, excretions or secretions, and processed products of animals. TMA is an important source of fishy odor in animal-derived medicines; it is a typical malodorous substance with a very low olfactory threshold (0.000032 × 10^-6 V/V) and a strong fishy odor¹³. At present, the commonly used HS-GC-MS method cannot detect TMA in animal-derived medicines stably and accurately.

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Centrifuge	Beckman Coulter Trading (China) Co.	SSC-2-0213
Chinese herbal medicine grinder	Zhejiang Yongkang Xi'an Hardware and Pharmaceutical Factory	HX-200K
Convection oven	Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd	MOV-112F
Decapper for 20 mm Aluminum caps	ANPEL Laboratory Technologies (Shanghai) Inc	V1750004
Electronic balance	Shimadzu Corporation Japan	AUW220D
Gas chromatography mass spectrometry	Shimadzu Corporation Japan	TQ-8050 NX
Headspace Vial	ANPEL Laboratory Technologies (Shanghai) Inc	25760200
Homogenizer	Shanghai biaomo Factory	FJ200-SH
Preassembled Cap	ANPEL Laboratory Technologies (Shanghai) Inc	L4150050
Sample sieve	Zhenxing Sieve Factory	/
SH-Volatile Amine	Chengdu Meimelte Technology Co., Ltd	227-3626-01
Sodium hydroxide	Chengdu Chron Chemicals Co., Ltd	2022101401
Solid paraffin wax	Shanghai Hualing Kangfu apparatus factory	20221112
Trichloroacetic acid	Chengdu Chron Chemicals Co., Ltd	2022102001
Trimethylamine hydrochloride	Chengdu Aifa Biotechnology Co., Ltd	AF22022108
Ultra-pure water system	Sichuan Youpu Ultrapure Technology Co., Ltd	UPR-11-5T