Abstract
Project Aquafluosense is designed to develop prototypes for a fluorescence-based instrumentation setup for in situ measurements of several characteristic parameters of water quality. In the scope of the project an enzyme-linked fluorescent immunoassay (ELFIA) method has been developed for the detection of several environmental xenobiotics, including mycotoxin zearalenone (ZON). ZON, produced by several plant pathogenic Fusarium species, has recently been identified as an emerging pollutant in surface water, presenting a hazard to aquatic ecosystems. Due to its physico-chemical properties, detection of ZON at low concentrations in surface water is a challenging task. The 96-well microplate-based fluorescence instrument is capable of detecting ZON in the concentration range of 0.09–400 ng/mL. The sensitivity and accuracy of the analytical method has been demonstrated by a comparative assessment with detection by high-performance liquid chromatography and by total internal reflection ellipsometry. The limit of detection of the method, 0.09 ng/mL, falls in the low range compared to the other reported immunoassays, but the main advantage of this ELFIA method is its efficacy in combined in situ applications for determination of various important water quality parameters detectable by induced fluorimerty—e.g., total organic carbon content, algal density or the level of other organic micropollutants detectable by immunofluorimetry. In addition, the immunofluorescence module can readily be expanded to other target analytes if proper antibodies are available for detection.
Highlights
Natural mycotoxin contamination has been identified as an emerging problem in agriculture
Traditional chromatographic separation, e.g., high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [40,41,42], thin layer chromatography (TLC) [43,44,45], and liquid or gas chromatography coupled with mass spectroscopy (LC or GC MS) [46,47,48,49] have low limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) values but, usually, due to the complex sample preparation they are time consuming technologies requiring special instrumentation
We aimed to develop an enzyme-linked fluorescent immunoassay (ELFIA) module for monitoring and quantification of ZON
Summary
Natural mycotoxin contamination has been identified as an emerging problem in agriculture. These toxic secondary metabolites produced by some fungal species are often found in food and feed (especially in grains) and cause high risk for food- and feed-borne intoxication in both humans and livestock [1]. Among all the toxic filamentous fungi species, Aspergillus, Fusarium, and Penicillium are important genera, producing regularly detected and widely studied toxins including aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol, T-2 toxin, fumonisin, and zearalenone (ZON) [3]. Its most known impact on human health is endocrine disruption: ZON and derivatives trigger estrogen-like effects in mammals causing alteration in hormone-mediated processes, e.g., the production of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH), and reductions in the number of Leydig and granulosa cells [9]. The potential health and economic impacts of ZON necessitate its routine monitoring in food and commodities, which have led to the development and validation of analytical methods in recent decades
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