Detection of toxic methylenecyclopropylglycine and hypoglycin A in litchi aril of three Chinese cultivars

Jiali Yang; Xiangrong Zhu; Pei Zhang; Yinhong Wang; Yangyang Xiao; Bao Yang; Hongxia Qu; Yueming Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.127013

Detection of toxic methylenecyclopropylglycine and hypoglycin A in litchi aril of three Chinese cultivars

Food Chem. 2020 Oct 15:327:127013. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.127013. Epub 2020 May 11.

Authors

Jiali Yang¹, Xiangrong Zhu², Pei Zhang³, Yinhong Wang³, Yangyang Xiao⁴, Bao Yang⁴, Hongxia Qu⁴, Yueming Jiang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, Key Laboratory of Post-harvest Handling of Fruits of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, Key Laboratory of Post-harvest Handling of Fruits of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China; Hunan Key Laboratory of Fruits &Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Agricultural Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China.
³ Hunan Key Laboratory of Fruits &Vegetables Storage, Processing, Quality and Safety, Agricultural Product Processing Institute, Hunan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha 410125, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, Key Laboratory of Post-harvest Handling of Fruits of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Plant Resources Conservation and Sustainable Utilization, Key Laboratory of Post-harvest Handling of Fruits of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China; Center of Economic Botany, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China. Electronic address: ymjiang@scbg.ac.cn.

PMID: 32454275
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.127013

Abstract

As a subtropical fruit with high commercial values, litchi is also a source of methylenecyclcopropylglycine (MCPG) and hypoglycin A (HGA), which could cause hypoglycemia and fatal encephalopathy in human. In this work, a quantitative method was developed well to detect MCPG and HGA present in litchi aril of different cultivars. Method validation was evaluated well by linearity, recovery, precision and sensitivity. Among three cultivars, 'Feizixiao' contained the highest toxin level with 0.60-0.83 mg kg^-1 of MCPG and 10.66-14.46 mg kg^-1 of HGA, followed by 'Huaizhi' with 0.08-0.12 mg kg^-1 of MCPG and 0.63-1.54 mg kg^-1 of HGA, and 'Nuomici' with 0.09-0.11 mg kg^-1 of MCPG and 0.35-0.91 mg kg^-1 of HGA. The toxin levels were highly associated with litchi cultivar and storage time. These findings can provide new knowledge to help to recommend the safe consumption of fresh litchi based on human health.

Keywords: Cultivar; HPLC–MS/MS; Hypoglycin A; Litchi; Methylenecyclopropylglycine; Storage.

MeSH terms

China
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Cyclopropanes / analysis*
Food Analysis / methods*
Fruit / chemistry
Glycine / analogs & derivatives*
Glycine / analysis
Hypoglycins / analysis*
Litchi / chemistry*
Reproducibility of Results
Sensitivity and Specificity
Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization
Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Substances

Cyclopropanes
Hypoglycins
hypoglycin
methylenecyclopropylglycine
Glycine