Development Of Multi-Component Quantitation Methodology Of Mycotoxin Contamination In Food And Pork Products

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi with toxic e ects on plants,animals and human?ZEN is mainly synthesized by a variety of Fusarium species,such as F.graminearum.Zearalenone(ZEN)is a mycotoxin with estrogenic potency,and commonly found in agricultural commodities globally.Determination of zearalenone(ZEN)and its derivatives as biomarkers in animal tissues or organs playsan important role in mycotoxin monitoring and exposure assessment.A liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(LC-MS/MS)method forquantification of ZEN family mycotoxins especially animal metabolites zearalenone-14-glucuronidein different pig tissues(heart,liver,spleen as well as muscle)was developed and validated in this study.Tissue samples were extracted using a quick,easy,cheap,effective,rugged,and safe(QuEChERS)procedure without any further clean-up steps,and analyzed by LC-MS/MS in the multiple reaction monitoring(MRM)mode.Dynamic linear ranges for each target analyte were determined with R~2 between 0.916and 0.999.The LODs of the 9 ZENs were achieved in the range of 1-2 ng/mL and the LOQs varied from 0.5 ng/mL to 1 ng/mL.The satisfying intra-day and inter-day reproducibility(both RSD and RSDR<15%)indicated a good stability of this method.The recoveries of 9 target analytes were in the range of 70%-110%.The validations results showed that this established LC-MS/MS method coupled with QuEChERS sample pretreatment is effective and suitable for simultaneous quantitation of ZEN metabolites in pigs.It has been applied to analysis of the pig tissues in our research,and can be adapted for more real-world samples in the field of mycotoxins study.Deoxynivalenol(DON)is a mycotoxin mainly produced by the Fusarium graminearum complex,which are important phytopathogens that can infect crops and lead to a serious disease called Fusarium head blight(FHB).As the most common B type trichothecene mycotoxin,DON has toxic effects on animals and humans,which poses a risk to food security.LC-MS/MS in the multiple reaction monitoring(MRM)mode.Dynamic linear ranges for each target analyte were determined with R~2between 0.998 and 0.999.The LODs of the 4 DONs were achieved in the range of10-20 ng/mL and the LOQs varied from 5 ng/m to 10 ng/mL.The recoveries of 4target analytes were in the range of 79.6%-112.2%.It has been applied to analysis of the food in our research,and can be adapted for more real-world food samples in the field of mycotoxins study.