Simultaneous detection of deoxynivalenol and zearalenone by dual-label time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay

Abstract

The health risks of deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEN) necessitate the development of analytical methods for widespread food and feed screening. We sought to establish a rapid, economic and sensitive dual-label time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TRFIA) to detect DON and ZEN simultaneously. Eu(3+)- and Sm(3+)-labelled antibodies were used, as lanthanides are more stable and have narrower emission spectra than most fluorescent dyes. The limit of detection was 0.0194 ng mL(-1) for DON (range: 0.0194-100 ng mL(-1)) and 0.37 ng mL(-1) for ZEN (range: 0.37-50 ng mL(-1)). DON recovery in spiked cereal samples was 88-107%, and for ZEN was 83-108%, with both intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation (CVs) less than 5%. The dual-label TRFIA results correlated well with ELISA results (correlation coefficients: 0.9733 for DON and 0.9784 for ZEN). The dual-label TRFIA is a simple, fast and sensitive method for high-throughput screening of DON and ZEN in food and feedstuff.