{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T04:37:31Z","timestamp":1777869451771,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777507200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Xiangxi Prefecture\u2019s \u201cOpen Competition and Merit-Based Selection\u201d Project for Technological Breakthroughs","award":["2022JBGS0003"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022JBGS0003"]}]},{"name":"Key Discipline Project on Chinese Pharmacology of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine","award":["202302"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["202302"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Metabolites"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: As a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, Cnidii Fructus is widely used in clinical practice. Its volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are closely related to its antipruritic effect and insecticidal properties. Due to the susceptibility of this medicinal herb to mold contamination, adopting appropriate sterilization measures is of great significance for its storage. 60Co irradiation is widely used for this purpose due to its various advantages. Methods: This study employed Gas Chromatography\u2013Ion Mobility Spectrometry (GC-IMS) combined with multivariate statistical analysis to systematically investigate the influence of different 60Co irradiation doses (0, 3, 6, 9 kGy) on the VOCs of Cnidii Fructus and associated metabolic regulatory mechanisms. Results: A total of 115 VOCs were tentatively identified. Statistical analysis revealed dose-dependent effects: 3 kGy irradiation caused the least compositional perturbation, best preserving original chemical characteristics; 6 kGy induced more pronounced compositional changes; and 9 kGy triggered substantial chemical composition reconstruction. Differential metabolite enrichment analysis indicated that medium and high doses of irradiation primarily perturbed central carbon metabolic pathways, including pyruvate metabolism, glycolysis\/gluconeogenesis, and glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism. Key differential components were tentatively identified (e.g., \u03b1-Thujone, \u03b1-Pinene, \u03b2-Pinene) that possess pharmacological activities closely associated with the traditional efficacy of Cnidii Fructus. Conclusions: When the irradiation dose is 3 kGy, the VOCs profile of Cnidii Fructus is most similar to that of the non-irradiated control group, suggesting that its compositional profile may be closer to that of traditional high-quality medicinal materials. Meanwhile, the differential metabolites and core metabolic pathways identified in this study can provide a chemical reference for the quality control of irradiated Cnidii Fructus. The findings provide a theoretical basis and technical support for the rational application of 60Co irradiation sterilization in the processing of Chinese medicinal materials and their powders.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/metabo16050309","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]],"date-time":"2026-04-30T13:32:21Z","timestamp":1777555941000},"page":"309","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Influence of 60Co Irradiation on the Volatile Organic Compounds of Cnidii Fructus"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Junmei","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Powder and Medicine Innovation in Hunan (Incubation), Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yuhuan","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Powder and Medicine Innovation in Hunan (Incubation), Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"Hunan Province Sino-US International Joint Research Center for Therapeutic Drugs of Senile Degenerative Diseases, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"Hunan Engineering Technology Research Center for Bioactive Substance Discovery of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yuqing","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Powder and Medicine Innovation in Hunan (Incubation), Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jianye","family":"Yan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Powder and Medicine Innovation in Hunan (Incubation), Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"Hunan Province Sino-US International Joint Research Center for Therapeutic Drugs of Senile Degenerative Diseases, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"Hunan Engineering Technology Research Center for Bioactive Substance Discovery of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Shunxiang","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Pharmacy, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"Hunan Province Sino-US International Joint Research Center for Therapeutic Drugs of Senile Degenerative Diseases, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"Hunan Engineering Technology Research Center for Bioactive Substance Discovery of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4221-574X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dan","family":"Huang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"State Key Laboratory of Chinese Medicine Powder and Medicine Innovation in Hunan (Incubation), Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"Hunan Province Sino-US International Joint Research Center for Therapeutic Drugs of Senile Degenerative Diseases, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"},{"name":"Hunan Engineering Technology Research Center for Bioactive Substance Discovery of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"155375","DOI":"10.1016\/j.phymed.2024.155375","article-title":"Cnidii Fructus: A traditional Chinese medicine herb and source of antiosteoporotic drugs","volume":"128","author":"Xu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Phytomedicine"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Khan, S.A., Wu, Y., Li, A.S., Fu, X.Q., and Yu, Z.L. 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