Development of a liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of 16 mycotoxins on cellulose filters and in fungal cultures

Abstract

The development of a liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method for the simultaneous determination of 16 mycotoxins possibly related to the 'Sick Building Syndrome' on filters and in fungal cultures is described. Fungi-surface sampling as regards the 'Sick Building Syndrome' preferably happens by scraping off fungal material and vacuuming onto cellulose filters. Therefore, these two media were used as samples. They were spiked with nivalenol, deoxynivalenol, zearalenone, diacetoxyscirpenol, T-2 toxin, verrucarol, verrucarin A, neosolaniol, sterigmatocystin, roridin A, ochratoxin A, aflatoxin B1, aflatoxin B2, aflatoxin G1 and aflatoxin G2, which can be produced by isolates from fungi-damaged buildings. Deepoxy-deoxynivalenol was used as internal standard. Samples were extracted with organic solvents and the different mycotoxins were separated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a C18 reversed-phase SunFire analytical column and a mobile phase of variable mixtures of ammonium acetate (10 mM) and sodium acetate (20 microM) in water (solvent A) and in methanol (solvent B). The samples were run on-line with a Micromass Quattro Micro triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in positive electrospray ionisation mode using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The detection limits of the procedure varied from 50 to 0.009 pg/microL for filter samples and from 75 to 0.04 pg/microL for fungal culture samples. As the method includes few and non-labourious sample treatment steps, it should allow for a high throughput of samples.

LC-MS/MS multi-analyte method for mycotoxin determination in food supplements

“…Attempts to apply these solvents to food supplements resulted in the extraction of matrix components that made further clean-up difficult. The use of ethyl acetate and dichloromethane has also been reported (Delmulle et al 2006). In this study, the best compromise for the simultaneous extraction of the different mycotoxins from food supplements was achieved using the solvent mixture ethyl acetate/formic acid (95:5, v/v), of fatty matrix compounds that were co-extracted with the ethyl acetate-containing solvent, a n-hexane defatting step was necessary prior to SPE.…”

“…LC-MS/MS appears to be most promising as a highly specific, broadly applicable detection method that provides both qualitative and quantitative data. Considering the possible contamination of foodstuffs by several mycotoxin producing fungal species and the production of different types of mycotoxins by one mould, a trend is to develop methods suitable for the determination of several mycotoxins in a single run (Sewram et al 1999;Monti et al 2000;Rundberget and Wilkins 2002;Royer et al 2004;Berthiller et al 2005;Cavalière et al 2005;Kokkonen et al 2005;Sorensen and Elbaek 2005;Abbas et al 2006;Delmulle et al 2006;Monbaliu et al;Sulyok et al 2006;Spanjer et al 2008). Currently published protocols, however, have been developed and optimized for different foods and feeds.…”

Aflatoxin levels and exposure assessment of Spanish infant cereals

“…Human exposure to aflatoxins occurs primarily through intake of contaminated food, although there is evidence that inhalation of these toxins can also happen due to occupational or work-related exposure (Delmulle et al 2006, Ramos-Catharino et al 2005. Thus, aflatoxins constitute a serious threat to human health, especially infants and children.…”

Supercritical fluid extraction and quantification of aflatoxins in Zizyphi Fructus by liquid chromatography/atmospheric pressure chemical ionization tandem mass spectrometry

“…In recent years, however, LC with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) has emerged as a powerful new tool for detection and confirmation of AFs in cigarette, dust, urine matrices, fungal cultures, wheat, maize, and cheeses. 10,[15][16][17][18][19][20] In the literature, a supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) technique has been applied to remove influences caused by matrices. 21 Therefore, in the present study, we successfully utilized this pretreatment to extract AFs contained in Zizyphi Fructus and selectively reduce the interferences from the matrices.…”