Rapid screening procedure for the detection of trichothecenes in plasma and urine》.pdf

375 Journal of Chromatography, 378 (1986) 375-383 Biomedical Applications Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands CHROMBIO. 3099 RAPID SCREENING PROCEDURE FOR THE DETECTION OF TRICHOTHECENES IN PLASMA AND URINE HAROLD D. ROOD, Jr., STEVEN P. SWANSON* and WILLIAM B. BUCK Department of Veterinary Biosciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL 61801 (U.S.A.) (First received October 23rd, 1985; revised manuscript received January 24th, 1986) SUMMARY A rapid and easy procedure to screen for trichothecenes in plasma and urine is presented. The toxins are extracted using a Clin-Elut column, hydrolyzed to their corresponding parent alcohols and cleaned up with a silica cartridge followed by derivatization for gas chro- matographic analysis. The detection of any of the parent alcohols in plasma or urine would indicate an exposure to trichothecenes. Recoveries in urine are between 78 and 119% at levels of 50-1000 ng/ml and recoveries in plasma are between 80 and 116% at levels of 50-500 ng/ml. The limit of detection is better than 25 ppb. INTRODUCTION Trichothecenes are a series of mycotoxins produced by several species of the fungi Fusarium which commonly grow on agricultural products such as corn and wheat [l- 51. Consumption of Fusarium-infected feedstuffs con- taining these mycotoxins has been associated with a number of adverse