MIP loaded porous scaffolds for multi-mycotoxin analysis

Mycotoxins are important and naturally occurring contaminants in food and feed. These secondary metabolites produced by various fungal species are only present in very low concentrations (ppb-ppt range). However, they can cause toxic effects in humans and animals, and the economic consequences of contaminations should not be underestimated. Reducing the mycotoxin contamination risk by controlling through rapid, sensitive and accurate analysis is highly needed. Mycotoxin analysis includes rapid screening and confirmatory methods. In the past ten years, interest moved towards a multi-analyte approach. Therefore, selective recognition elements that bind with different target analytes are required. Antibodies represent the most commonly used recognition elements in mycotoxin analysis, but alternatives such as molecularly imprinted polymers (MIP) are being developed since antibodies suffer from some disadvantages. The aim of this research is to use MIP as alternative recognition elements for multi-mycotoxin analysis. MIP of different sizes (nm-µm) against ergot alkaloids were produced by using precipitation polymerization. In addition, the BioplotterTM technology was used to produce poly-e-caprolactone (PCL) scaffolds which are characterized by micrometer sized interconnective pores. MIP particles with sizes in the nanometer range will be immobilized into those scaffolds by means of Pluronic® F127 bismethacrylate (Pluronic® F127-BMA) hydrogel building blocks. In this way, MIP for different mycotoxins can finally be combined to develop multi-mycotoxin screening tests and new sample preparation methods by using solid phase extraction (SPE) columns. Very interestingly, the proposed strategy may result in more efficient multi-mycotoxin analysis.

from #MedicinebyAlexandrosSfakianakis via xlomafota13 on Inoreader http://ift.tt/1SRKj83
via IFTTT