They play an important role as source of nitrogen and precursor for the synthesis of hormones, alkaloids, nucleic acids, proteins, amines and food aroma components.
[1] Biogenic amines are naturally present in grapes or can occur during the vinification and aging processes, essentially due to the microorganism's activity.
When present in wines in high amount, biogenic amines may cause not only organoleptic defects but also adverse effects in sensitive human individuals, namely due to the toxicity of histamine, tyramine and putrescine.
The determination of amines in wines is commonly achieved by liquid chromatography, using derivatization reagents in order to promote its separation and detection.
In alternative, other promising methodologies have been developed using capillary electrophoresis or biosensors, revealing lower costs and faster results, without needing a derivatization step.