title: Untargeted metabolomics: an emerging approach to determine the composition of herbal products.
abstract: Natural remedies, such as those based on traditional Chinese medicines, have become more popular also in western countries over the last 10 years. The composition of these herbal products is largely unknown and difficult to determine. Moreover, since plants respond to their environment changing the metabolome, the composition of plant material can vary depending on the plant growth conditions. However, there is a growing need of a deeper knowledge on such natural remedies also in view of the growing number of reports of toxicity following the consumption of herbal supplements. Untargeted metabolomics is a useful approach for the simultaneous analysis of many compounds in herbal products. In particular, liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC-MS) can determine presence, amount and sometime structures of plant metabolites in complex herbal mixtures, with significant advantages over techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS).
authors.affiliation: University of Verona, Department of Biotechnology, Strada le Grazie 15, Cà Vignal 1, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Commisso
authors.affiliation: University of Verona, Department of Biotechnology, Strada le Grazie 15, Cà Vignal 1, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Strazzer
authors.affiliation: University of Verona, Department of Biotechnology, Strada le Grazie 15, Cà Vignal 1, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Ketti
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Toffali
authors.affiliation: S-IN Soluzioni Informatiche, Via Salvemini 9, 36100 Vicenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stocchero
authors.affiliation: University of Verona, Department of Biotechnology, Strada le Grazie 15, Cà Vignal 1, 37134 Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Flavia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guzzo
keywords: Daucus carota; LC-MS; Multivariate Analysis; herbal intoxications; herbal products; natural remedies