Immunoaffinity Plastic Blade Spray Mass Spectrometry for Rapid Confirmatory Analysis of Food Contaminants

The lack of chromatographic separation in ambient and direct mass spectrometry (MS) ionization techniques jeopardizes the overall selectivity of the developed methods. Incorporating a biosensing element at the ionization source could compensate for that inherent lack of selectivity. Thus, a simplified immunoaffinity-direct MS technique was developed, immunoaffinity blade spray (iBS), featuring a conductive polystyrene blade material. In iBS, the generic coating used in conventional coated blade spray is replaced with a layer of highly specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), while the stainless steel is replaced with conductive polystyrene to allow for simple ELISA platelike hydrophobic immobilization of mAbs. Because of its high relevance for climate change-induced food safety issues, the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) was chosen as a model substance. Following a rapid extraction from wheat flour, DON is immuno-captured, and the blade is positioned in front of the MS for direct iBS-MS/MS analysis. The method's applicability was demonstrated by analyzing spiked and incurred wheat flour samples, omitting the need for time-consuming chromatographic separation. Apart from DON, cross-reacting DON conjugates could be successfully analyzed as well. The direct iBS-MS/MS method is generic and adaptable to detecting any analyte in sample extracts, provided that specific mAbs are available.