High performance liquid chromatography of mycotoxin metabolites in human urine

Because mycotoxins occur worldwide in grain and grain products, evaluating their effects on the health of the population has become important. The development of a high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) procedure was investigated for the analysis of aflatoxin B1, citrinin, and ochratoxin A, from hydrolyzed human urine. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) was used for sample clean-up and concentration. Reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) was used with fluorescence detection for sample analysis. The presence of aflatoxin B1 was confirmed by converting it to the hemiacetal. With 10 mL of urine, the detection limit for aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A was in the high parts per trillion (ppt) and that for citrinin was about 10 ppb.