A Method to Determine the Transfer of Mycotoxins from Materials to Air

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this work was to propose a new methodological approach to enable the measurement of three airborne mycotoxins and thus determine directly the rate of production and physical characteristics of these aerosols. A method enabling the measurement of three major mycotoxins in indoor air (sterigmatocystin (ST), deoxynivalenol (DON), and ochratoxin A (OA)) was thus optimized. This assay method was able to identify and quantify these mycotoxins at respective concentrations of 30 μg/L (n = 30, σ/m = 3.9%), 20 μg/L (n = 10, σ/m = 5.5%), and 20 μg/L (n = 10, σ/m = 7.6%). Using this analytical technique and a rotary cup collection system validated elsewhere, measurement of the concentrations of three airborne mycotoxins was made possible with a theoretical limit of quantification (LOQ) of 60 pg/m3 of air. Study of the transfer of mycotoxins from a substrate to the air made it possible to demonstrate, firstly, that the quantity of aerosolized mycotoxins was not proportional to that present on the moldy materials, and secondly that mycotoxins can be transported by aerosols in the alveolar fraction. We determined, under these conditions, a rate of production of ST aerosols.