Zearalenone determination in corn silage samples using an immunosensor in a continuous-flow/stopped-flow systems

NANCY V. PANINI; FRANCO A. BERTOLINO; ELOY SALINAS; GERMÁN A. MESSINA; JULIO RABA

BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL

ELSEVIER SCIENCE SA

Año: 2010 vol. 51 p. 7 - 13

1369-703X

Zearalenone (ZEA) is a mycotoxin produced by a variety of Fusarium fungi that infects cereals. ZEA mayaccumulate in cereals before harvest time. This paper describes the development of an immunosensorcoupled to glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) (CNTGCE)integrated with a continuous-flow systems for rapid and sensitive quantification of ZEA in cornsilage samples. Mouse monoclonal anti-ZEA antibodies were immobilized on a rotating disk. The ZEA incorn sample is allowed to compete immunologically with ZEA bound to horseradish peroxidase (HRP) forthe immobilized antibodies. HRP in presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) catalyzes the oxidation of 4-tert-butylcatechol (4-TBC), whose back electrochemical reduction was detected on CNT-GCE at −0.15 V.The total assay time was 15 min. The electrochemical immunosensor showed higher sensitivity and lowerdetection limits than the standard ELISA method, which shows potential for detecting ZEA in foods andfeeds diagnosis.