Detection of ochratoxin a in human blood and colostrum

Ochratoxin A (OA) is one of the most frequent sources of mycotoxin contamination of feed plants in Hungary. It is produced by 10% of Aspergillus and 12% of Penicillium species, i.e. by the widely occurring "commonest" mould species. Human exposure to mycotoxins closely resembles that of swine. Fifty-two out of 100 human blood samples collected at random (52%) were found to contain ochratoxin A (0.2-12.9 ng/ml). Recent studies have clearly shown that OA has mutagenic, teratogenic and carcinogenic effects. Sensitivity to mycotoxins is known to be inversely related to age. Therefore, it was considered important to test human colostrum samples for OA content. Thirty-eight out of 92 colostrum samples (41.3%) collected from women in the first 24 hours post partum contained ochratoxin A (0.2-7.3 ng/ml). The HPLC method applied in this study is described in detail.