Group detection of DON and its modified forms by an ELISA kit

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Mycotoxicology

Background:

• Deoxynivalenol (DON) and its modified forms are significant mycotoxins.
• Chromatographic methods like LC-MS are precise for multi-mycotoxin analysis.
• Immunochemistry methods, such as ELISA, can detect related compounds but may overestimate due to cross-reactivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the accuracy of a commercial Deoxynivalenol (DON)-detecting ELISA kit.
• To assess the kit's performance on naturally incurred soft wheat and maize samples, considering matrix effects.
• To compare ELISA results with LC-MS/MS data for DON and its modified forms.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of naturally incurred soft wheat (n=15) and maize (n=15) samples.
• Utilized a commercial Deoxynivalenol (DON)-detecting ELISA kit.
• Employed Liquid Chromatography-tandem Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for precise quantification of DON and its modified forms (3-acetyl-DON, DON-3-glucoside).
• Calculated recovery by comparing ELISA-detected DON with the total DON concentration (DON + modified forms) measured by LC-MS/MS.

Main Results:

• The ELISA kit detected modified forms of Deoxynivalenol (DON), leading to apparent overestimation when only DON was considered.
• Calculating ELISA recovery based on the total DON content (DON and its 3-modified forms) significantly increased analytical accuracy.
• Reduced variability in results was observed when the ELISA kit's performance was evaluated against the total DON concentration.

Conclusions:

• The commercial ELISA kit shows promise as a group detection tool for Deoxynivalenol (DON) and its modified forms (DON-3-glucoside, 3-acetyl-DON).
• Accurate evaluation of total DON content in soft wheat and maize is achievable when considering both DON and its common modified forms.
• The ELISA method, when interpreted correctly regarding total DON, offers a viable approach for mycotoxin screening in food matrices.