Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100193, People's Republic of China.
J Food Prot. 2018 May;81(5):754-761. doi: 10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-17-405.
Herbs derived from roots, leaves, flowers, or fruits of plants are unavoidably contaminated with fungi and mycotoxins during growth, harvest, and storage, thereby posing a health threat to humans. Especially, root herbs (RHs) are more easily contaminated with fungi and mycotoxins because the roots are in direct contact with the soil. Here, we investigated the occurrence of fungi, aflatoxins (AFs), and ochratoxin A (OTA) in eight RHs that are used as medicines, beverages, dietary supplements, and functional foods in China and other countries. Morphological observation and MultiGeneBlast (β-tubulin and calmodulin) were used to identify the potentially toxigenic fungi. Of the 48 samples tested, all were contaminated by fungi, and 1,844 isolates belonging to 25 genera were detected. The genera Aspergillus and Penicillium, which contain potentially toxigenic fungal species, represented a frequency of 10 and 25%, respectively. Thirty-three isolates of Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus, Aspergillus niger, and Penicillium polonicum were arbitrarily selected for analysis of their toxigenic potential. Five of 13 isolates of A. flavus and 1 isolate of A. parasiticus produced AFs, whereas OTA production was not detected for any of the isolates of A. niger and P. polonicum. The occurrence of AFs and OTA in the 48 samples of eight RHs was tested by ultraperformance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; 37.50% of samples from six RHs were contaminated with AFs and 16.67% of samples from four RHs were contaminated with OTA. Seven (14.58%) and four (8.33%) samples of ginseng, polygala, and liquorice exceeded the permissible limits of aflatoxin B and AFs, respectively. Because ginseng, polygala, and liquorice are widely used as herbs, dietary supplements, and functional foods, the high frequency of AF contamination of these herbs indicated by our current study warrant attention to raise public awareness.
草药的根、叶、花或果实在生长、收获和储存过程中不可避免地会受到真菌和霉菌毒素的污染，从而对人类健康构成威胁。特别是根类草药（RH）由于根部直接与土壤接触，更容易受到真菌和霉菌毒素的污染。在这里，我们调查了在中国和其他国家用作药物、饮料、膳食补充剂和功能性食品的八种 RH 中真菌、黄曲霉毒素（AFs）和赭曲霉毒素 A（OTA）的发生情况。形态观察和 MultiGeneBlast（β-微管蛋白和钙调蛋白）用于鉴定潜在产毒真菌。在所测试的 48 个样本中，所有样本均受到真菌污染，共检测到属于 25 个属的 1844 个分离株。包含潜在产毒真菌物种的曲霉属和青霉属的频率分别为 10%和 25%。任意选择 33 株黄曲霉、寄生曲霉、黑曲霉和波兰青霉进行产毒潜力分析。13 株黄曲霉中有 5 株和 1 株寄生曲霉产生了 AFs，而所有黑曲霉和波兰青霉分离株均未检测到 OTA。通过超高效液相色谱-串联质谱法检测了这 48 个 RH 样本中 8 种 RH 样本中 AFs 和 OTA 的含量；来自 6 种 RH 的 37.50%样本受到 AFs 的污染，来自 4 种 RH 的 16.67%样本受到 OTA 的污染。7（14.58%）和 4（8.33%）个人参、远志和甘草样本的黄曲霉毒素 B 和 AFs 含量分别超过了允许限量。由于人参、远志和甘草被广泛用作草药、膳食补充剂和功能性食品，我们目前的研究表明，这些草药中 AF 的高污染频率需要引起关注，以提高公众意识。
