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Title: DETERMINATION OF DEOXYNIVALENOL AND NIVALENOL IN CORN AND WHEAT BY LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH ELECTROSPRAY MASS SPECTROMETRY

Author
item Plattner, Ronald
item Maragos, Chris

Submitted to: Journal of Association of Official Analytical Chemists International
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/8/2002
Publication Date: 1/8/2003
Citation: PLATTNER, R.D., MARAGOS, C.M. DETERMINATION OF DEOXYNIVALENOL AND NIVALENOL IN CORN AND WHEAT BY LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH ELECTROSPRAY MASS SPECTROMETRY. JOURNAL OF ASSOCIATION OF OFFICIAL ANALYTICAL CHEMISTS INTERNATIONAL. 2003. v. 86. p. 61-65.

Interpretive Summary: Deoxynivalenol (DON) and nivalenol are toxic compounds that are produced by strains of a common fungus, Fusarium graminearum. This fungus can infect crop plants such as corn and wheat or other small grains while they are growing in the field. Infection can result in grains that contain these toxins. Because the presence of toxins in human and animal foods can pose a health risk, regulatory agencies worldwide have set limits for the presence of deoxynivalenol in human foods and animal feeds. To assure the safety of the food supply grains, such as wheat and corn, must be analyzed for the presence of DON toxins. In this paper a new and improved method to measure DON in extracts of grain samples is reported. The new method is more rapid than the standard method to do this analysis because a time consuming sample clean-up step is not required. The new method is also able to detect both DON and nivalenol whereas previously used methods only measured deoxynivalenol. The ability to detect and measure both toxins could be important because while strains of the fungus present in the US only produce deoxynivalenol, some Asian strains can produce nivalenol.

Technical Abstract: The fungus Fusarium graminearum is a pathogen of both wheat and corn. Strains of the fungus from the U.S. produce a toxin, deoxynivalenol (DON), while strains of the fungus from Asia and Europe can produce DON or a related toxin, nivalenol. These toxins can cause disease in livestock and their potential presence in feed and foods is a concern for animal and human health. A method to detect both toxins in corn and wheat which uses HPLC/MS/MS of an extract of the ground grain was developed. The method requires no sample clean-up and can detect the toxins at 0.05 ug/g.