Multiple antibodied based immunoaffinity columns preparation for the simultaneous analysis of deoxynivalenol and T-2 toxin in cereals by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 toxin are major trichothecenes contaminated in cereals, which might bring harmful effects to humans. In this research, mixed anti-DON and anti-T-2 mAb were used for multiple immunoaffinity columns (mIACs) preparation. Under the optimal conditions, column capacities were tested at 1280 ng/mL for DON and 1160 ng/mL for T-2 toxin. Regeneration investigation showed mIACs capacities were over 510 ng/mL for DON and 440 ng/mL for T-2 toxin in 10 recycle usages. Good performances were obtained when applying mIACs purification coupled UHPLC-MS/MS for spiked samples with limit of detection at 3-13 mu g/kg and mean recoveries at 79.0-97.6%. Applying to estimate the exposure of DON and T-2 toxin in commercial samples, maize samples were 100% DON positive and rice samples were 40% DON positive while T-2 toxin was negative in all tested samples. The proposed method is reliable and suitable for monitoring DON and T-2 toxin in cereal samples.

Automated summary

In this study, mixed anti-DON and anti-T-2 mAb were used to prepare multiple immunoaffinity columns for purification of trichothecenes in cereals. The method showed good performance in detecting DON and T-2 toxin in commercial samples, with 100% DON positivity in maize samples and 40% DON positivity in rice samples, while T-2 toxin was not detected in any of the tested samples. The proposed method proved to be reliable for monitoring mycotoxins in cereal samples.