High-performance liquid chromatography for the sensitive zearalenone determination by the automated immunomagnetic beads purifier for one-step sample pre-treatment

In this study, a sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method for zearalenone determination in feeds and grains was established based on the automatic immunomagnetic bead purifier analyzer (KY-AMI-I) for the one-step sample pre-treatment. Various parameters that may affect the analytical performance were investigated. Immunomagnetic bead separation system based on a monoclonal antibody (anti-ZEN antibody-immunomagnetic beads conjugation) was individually prepared for the ZEN purification. Besides, the average recoveries in spiked samples ranged from 75.23 to 102.62%, and the relative standard deviations were between 3.55 and 8.07% (< 10%). The method was used to analyze naturally contaminated positive feedstuff, and the results obtained by this method was in a good agreement with data obtained by immunoaffinity column-high-performance liquid chromatography (IAC-HPLC-FLD). The conformity and correlation of two methods was satisfactory. The comprehensive results showed that the proposed method was shown to be a suitable method for ZEN determination.

Automated summary

A sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography method for zearalenone determination in feeds and grains was established, with good recovery rates and relative standard deviations. The method was found to be suitable for ZEN determination and showed good agreement with data obtained by immunoaffinity column-high-performance liquid chromatography (IAC-HPLC-FLD).