Biogenic amines (BAs) are basic low molecular weight nitrogenous compounds. According to their chemical structure, these compounds can be distinguished into aliphatic (putrescine, cadaverine, spermine and spermidine), aromatic (tyramine and 2-phenylethylamine), and heterocyclic (histamine and tryptamine) variants (Figure 1). Another way to classify BAs is related to the number of amino groups in their molecular structure: monoamines, diamines and polyamines. BAs are present in a wide variety of food products, such as fsh, cheese, meat as well as alcoholic beverages. At low concentrations, BAs may be of endogenous origin, while high concentrations are typically present as a result of food decomposition. BAs are mostly formed by microbial decarboxylation of free amino acids during fermentation, storage or in food spoilage. For example, BAs can be generated in cheese by the action of a broad variety of microorganisms, including Bacillus, Clostridium, Hafnia, Klebsiella, Morganella morganii, Proteus, Lactobacillus buchneri and Lactobacillus delbrueckii. Instead, Enterobacteriaceae and Enterococcus typically grow up in fsh, meat and their products [1], to cite but a few. When present at low concentrations, BAs are essential for many human and animal physiological functions but they can cause toxicological efects to human health when large amounts are ingested. Some of the most common aromatic amines (that is, tyramine, tryptamine, and 2-phenylethylamine, Figure 1) display vasoconstrictor action while others (such as histamine, Figure 1) induce a vasodilator efect. Tyramine and 2-phenylethylamine seem to be involved in the hypertensive crisis and are recognised to be responsible for the dietary-induced migraine [1]. Aliphatic BAs have shown no adverse health efect, but they can react with nitrites (usually added as preservatives in meat) to form nitrosamines which are known to have, inter alia, carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic activity [1- 3]. Putrescine and cadaverine (Figure 1) are able to compete with Importance of Quantitative Analysis of Toxic Biogenic Amines in Food Matrices Publication History: Received: January 19, 2017 Accepted: February 22, 2018 Published: February 24, 2018 Keywords: Biogenic amines, Food products, Microbial decarboxylation, Chromatographic techniques Concept Analysis Open Access * Corresponding Author: Prof. Roccaldo Sardella, University of Perugia, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Section of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, Via del Liceo 1, 06123 Perugia, Italy, Tel: +39-075-5855138, Fax: +39-075- 5855161; E-mail: roccaldo.sardella@unipg.it Citation: Pucciarini L, Ianni F, Galarini R, Sardella R, Natalini B (2018) Importance of Quantitative Analysis of Toxic Biogenic Amines in Food Matrices. Int J Clin Res Trials 3: 123. doi: https://doi.org/10.15344/2456-8007/2018/123 Copyright: © 2018 Pucciarini et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. histamine for the same catabolic enzymes, thus ultimately inhibiting the efcacy of the histamine detoxifcation process and leading to the accumulation of toxic compounds in plasma [3]. Recent studies have demonstrated a synergistic action of ethanol and BAs. Ethanol is able to inhibit some intestinal enzymes such as monoamine oxidases that are involved in the detoxifcation of BAs. Moreover, alcohol and acetaldehyde can increase the permeability of the intestinal wall leading to increased toxic efects promoted by BAs [2]. Tis is primarily important for wine consumers that are sensitive to these compounds [4-5]. As mentioned above, the study of BAs is gaining growing interest mainly for their relation to food hygiene. Accordingly, the amount of International Journal of Clinical Research & Trials Lucia Pucciarini 1 , Federica Ianni 1 , Roberta Galarini 2 , Roccaldo Sardella 1 * and Benedetto Natalini 1 1 University of Perugia, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Section of Chemistry and Technology of Drugs, Via del Liceo 1, 06123 Perugia, Italy 2 Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute Umbria-Marche “Togo Rosati”, Via G. Salvemini, 1, 06126 Perugia, Italy Int J Clin Res Trials IJCRT, an open access journal ISSN: 2456-8007 Volume 3. 2018. 123 Pucciarini, et al. Int J Clin Res Trials 2018, 3: 123 https://doi.org/10.15344/2456-8007/2018/123 Figure 1: Chemical structure of biogenic amines.