Study of interferences by several metabolites from Aspergillus spp. in the detection of aflatoxigenic strains in media added with cyclodextrin

Pathogen producing aflatoxin in contaminated sandwich: Identification and preservation

The toxicity of the contaminated powder contributed to toxic aflatoxins has been well-known in the literature. However, before this study, the specific fungal strain behind aflatoxin production remained unidentified. Our research aimed to isolate and identify fungi from the tainted sandwiches while also assessing the preservation of sandwiches in ambient conditions. The study pinpointed Aspergillus flavus as the fungus responsible for aflatoxin production. Analysis revealed that the sandwich samples contaminated with pure A. flavus exhibited a significant Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) concentration of 55.2 ± 0.21 ng/g, accompanied by a spore count of 2 × 106 Colony-Forming Unit (CFU)/g after ten days. In contrast, sandwich samples contaminated with the unspecified fungi displayed a lower AFB1 content of 16.21 ± 0.42 ng/g, with a spore count of 2.2 × 102 CFU/g after the same duration. In the prevention study, the efficacy of the ethanol spray method for inhibiting aflatoxin from A. flavus was investigated. Results demonstrated that a 70 % ethanol concentration at a ratio of 2.0 % total weight of the sandwich proved highly effective, significantly impeding fungal growth. This method extended the preservation time by sevenfold compared to the control. Importantly, tests at 2.0 % ethanol of the sandwich weight did not detect aflatoxin presence.

Antioxidant and Antifungal Activity of Extracts of the Aerial Parts of Thymus capitatus (L.) Hoffmanns Against Four Phytopathogenic Fungi of Citrus sinensis

BACKGROUND

Many medicinal plants from the Lamiaceae family can be easily found in Algeria. These plants have been used as traditional medicines by local ethnic groups. Thymus capitatus is known in Algeria as "Zaatar" and has been commonly used as a spice, and reported to have many biological effects.

OBJECTIVES

This paper focused on the assessment of the antioxidant potential and antifungal activity of essential oil and solvent extracts of T. capitatus against the growth of certain fungi.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Essential oil, ethanol and hexane extracts of T. capitatus were tested for their antioxidant and antifungal activities. The 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay was used to determine the free radical quenching capacity. Antifungal activity was assessed using the radial growth technique.

RESULTS

DPPH free radical scavenging effect of the extracts was compared with standard antioxidant ascorbic acid and showed significant results. The ethanol extract showed high activity at the concentration of 80 g/mL, but less than the standard ascorbic acid. The essential oil was effective against all the fungi used in the experiment. The highest inhibitory effect on the growth of Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus oryzae, Penicillium digitatum, and Fusarium solani was exhibited by the essential oil at concentrations between 0.1 and 0.5 μg/mL.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings demonstrated that ethanol extract obtained from T. capitatus is a potential source of natural antioxidant, while the essential oil extract can be exploited as an ideal alternative to synthetic fungicides for use in the treatment of many fungal phytopathogens.

Specific antibody-induced fluorescence quenching for the development of a directly applicable and label-free immunoassay

A simple and label-free immunoassay was proposed based on the specific antibody-analyte immune binding reaction induced by fluorescence quenching of the analyte.

Development of a simple and high-throughput method for detecting aflatoxins production in culture media

AIMS

To develop a simple, high-throughput and inexpensive procedure to detect and quantify aflatoxins into the culture media of growing mycelia.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Fungal conidia (Aspergillus flavus) were inoculated into the wells of a microplate containing 200 μl of different formulations of coconut-derived liquid medium. Time-dependent production of aflatoxins in the culture media was evaluated by a procedure relying on the UV-induced fluorescence emission by the toxin, using a microplate reader. These data were validated by comparison with the outputs of a conventional HPLC-based procedure. Determinations of aflatoxin concentration, according to the fluorimetric procedure, were performed either by withdrawing samples from the plates or by direct 'in situ' readings, the latter method reinforcing the high-throughput feature of the procedure. Fluorescence enhancers (cyclodextrins) did not ameliorate the sensitivity of the procedure to low concentrations of the toxin into the medium. The efficacy of the procedure was also validated by testing the effect on toxin yield of adding an antioxidant agent (α-lipoic acid) to the medium.

CONCLUSIONS

We give evidence that our improved procedure is reliable and suitable to analyse aflatoxin accumulation time course in coconut-derived culture medium.

SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY

This study shows that our procedure may profitably be used to give insights into the mechanisms of regulation of mycotoxin production and, consequently, to implement different strategies for the containment of aflatoxin contamination of food and feed commodities.

Use of cyclodextrins as modifiers of fluorescence in the detection of mycotoxins

Cyclodextrins, cyclic oligosaccharides composed of amylose subunits, are known to interact with mycotoxins. The interactions may be useful to analytical chemists by altering the properties of the mycotoxin of interest, namely the chromatographic properties, electrophoretic properties, fluorescence, or absorption of these fungal metabolites. Practical applications of these effects have been the incorporation of cyclodextrins into high-performance liquid chromatography and capillary electrophoresis methods for mycotoxin detection. Specific mycotoxins include those with a native fluorescence such as the aflatoxins, ochratoxin A (OTA) and zearalenone (ZEN) as well as those that can be rendered fluorescent through derivatization, such as T-2 toxin. The literature describing the applications of cyclodextrins in mycotoxin analysis is reviewed and an attempt to extend the use of cyclodextrins to the detection of labelled T-2 toxin is presented. Twenty cyclodextrins were evaluated for their ability to enhance the fluorescence emission of T-2 toxin derivatized with pyrene-1-carbonyl cyanide (T2-Pyr). This evaluation revealed that heptakis (2,6-di-O-methyl)-beta-cyclodextrin (DIMEB), in particular, enhanced T2-Pyr fluorescence. DIMEB was used as a buffer modifier in a capillary electrophoresis-laser-induced fluorescence (CE-LIF) method for detecting T-2 in maize. Because of the effects that certain cyclodextrins have, especially under aqueous conditions, they may make useful additives for a variety of mycotoxin analytical methods.

Direct and rapid discrimination of aflatoxigenic strains based on fibre-optic room temperature phosphorescence detection

An innovative analytical methodology for the rapid identification of aflatoxin-producing moulds belonging to Aspergillus genus is presented here. The procedure is based on the measurement, using a fibre-optic luminometer, of the room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) emitted by aflatoxins produced by isolated aflatoxigenic strains, cultured in a special culture medium consisting of malt extract agar modified with beta-cyclodextrin and sodium deoxycholate for RTP induction. Unequivocal detection of the presence of aflatoxins in the culture medium is achieved within the first 36 h of incubation at 32 degrees C, owing to the selectivity and sensitivity of the RTP emission, as compared with the minimum of 72 h needed using a conventional microbiological method. In a first step, the capability of aflatoxin standard solutions to emit analytically useful RTP was evaluated. In this line all experimental conditions were optimised for in vitro induction of RTP from aflatoxins. In a second step, a simple analytical test was developed and it has been evaluated for the rapid identification of aflatoxigenic strains, as a discriminating assay from non-aflatoxigenic strains based on the measurement of experimental RTP emission observed. Confirmation of aflatoxin production on the studied culture plates was accomplished by means of an HPLC/fluorescence reference method.

Solid-supported room temperature phosphorescence from aflatoxins for analytical detection of Aspergillus spp. strains

A simple, direct and rapid analytical methodology for the detection of aflatoxin producing Aspergillus spp. strains based on the measurement of room temperature phosphorescence from aflatoxins is presented here.