Abstract
Lonicera japonica flos is widely used as a pharmaceutical resource and a commonly-employed ingredient in healthy food, soft beverages and cosmetics in China. Sometimes, sulfur fumigation is used during post-harvest handling. In this study, a comprehensive comparison of the chemical profile between sun-dried and sulfur-fumigated samples was conducted by HPLC fingerprints and simultaneous quantification of nine constituents, including secologanic acid, along with another eight usually-analyzed markers. Secologanic acid was destroyed, and its sulfonates were generated, whereas caffeoylquinic acids were protected from being oxidized. The residual sulfur dioxide in sulfur-fumigated samples was significantly higher than that in sun-dried samples, which might increase the potential incidence of toxicity to humans. Meanwhile, compared with sun-dried samples, sulfur-fumigated samples have significantly stronger antioxidant activity, which could be attributed to the joint effect of protected phenolic acids and flavonoids, as well as newly-generated iridoid sulfonates.
Highlights
Sulfur fumigation as an increasingly commonly-employed post-harvest process technique for some traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) has attracted more and more attention in the last decade due to its potential detrimental effect on the safety and efficacy of sulfur-fumigated TCMs [1,2]
It was found that secologanic acid (Peak 6) was decreased sharply in sulfur-fumigated samples, compared with sun-dried samples
The results indicated that chlorogenic acid (3) and isochlorogenic acid A (20) are highly correlated to the antioxidant capacity of Lonicera japonica flos (LJF)
Summary
Sulfur fumigation as an increasingly commonly-employed post-harvest process technique for some traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) has attracted more and more attention in the last decade due to its potential detrimental effect on the safety and efficacy of sulfur-fumigated TCMs [1,2]. Besides residual sulfur dioxide, understanding the chemical changes of the key active ingredients in the herbs induced by sulfur fumigation is crucially important Such chemical alteration of TCMs has been evidenced undoubtedly by increasing numbers of studies, involving sulfur-fumigated white peony roots [4,5,6], white ginseng [7], Angelicae dahuricae radix [8], Fritillariae thunbergii bulbus [9], Chrysanthemi flos [10,11] and Codonopsis radix [12]. Lonicera japonica flos (LJF), well-known as Jin Yin Hua in China, the dried buds of Lonicera japonica Thunb., is widely used as a pharmaceutical resource for the treatment of various viral diseases, such as SARS, H7N9 virus and infections [13,14] It is used as a frequently-used ingredient in healthy food, soft beverages and cosmetics for its specific benefits, such as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anti-endotoxin, antipyretic and antioxidative activities [15]
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