Remote-Controlled Microfluidic Platform for Real-Time Detection of Multiple Mycotoxins on Chip

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Food Science
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Mycotoxin contamination in food poses significant human health risks.
• Real-time monitoring is crucial for ensuring food safety and preventing exposure.
• Existing methods for mycotoxin detection can be time-consuming and costly.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a remote-controlled microfluidic platform (RCMP) for rapid, cost-effective, and real-time monitoring of multiple mycotoxins.
• To integrate a chemiluminescent/colorimetric detection system with the RCMP for enhanced sensitivity.
• To apply the developed platform for the detection of deoxynivalenol (DON), zearalenone (ZEA), and fumonisin B1 (FB1) in food samples.

Main Methods:

• Utilized an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) on a microfluidic platform.
• Integrated a chemiluminescent/colorimetric detection system for quantitative analysis.
• Employed a remote-controlled system for automated sample processing and detection.
• Validated the platform using beer samples spiked with known concentrations of mycotoxins.

Main Results:

• The RCMP achieved sensitive and automatic detection of DON (4-128 ng/mL), ZEA (1-32 ng/mL), and FB1 (0.5-16 ng/mL).
• Limits of detection (LOD) were determined as 2.881 ng/mL for DON, 0.702 ng/mL for ZEA, and 0.470 ng/mL for FB1.
• Satisfactory recoveries (93.57%–108.47%) with low relative standard deviations (6.92%–11.39%) were obtained in beer samples.

Conclusions:

• The developed RCMP is an automatic, high-throughput, and cost-effective method for detecting multiple mycotoxins.
• The platform demonstrates reliable performance and can be confidently applied for mycotoxin monitoring in beer.
• This technology contributes to improved food safety by enabling rapid and sensitive mycotoxin analysis.