ARS | Publication request: RECENT ADVANCES IN ANALYTICAL METHODOLOGY FOR CYCLOPIAZONIC ACID

Submitted to: American Chemical Society Symposium Series
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: August 24, 2001
Publication Date: December 1, 2002
Citation: -

Interpretive Summary: Cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) is a mycotoxin that is produced by several species of Aspergillus and Penicillium, which often contaminate a variety of commodities. CPA has been found as a natural contaminant of cheese, corn, peanuts, and various feedstuffs. It is a potentially important mycotoxin, but its full importance is not well understood because of the difficulties associated with methods used to analyze for it. This paper reviews recent advances that have been made in methods used to analyze for CPA, particularly methods based on the use of antibodies that have been developed to recognize the toxin. In one particular method, antibodies for CPA were used to purify peanut extracts prior to analysis by liquid chromatography, and the result was improved recoveries of the toxin and more reproducible analytical results. These advances should enable a more reliable assessment of the natural occurrence and importance of CPA.

Technical Abstract: Cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) is a toxic indole tetramic acid that has been isolated from numerous species of Aspergillus and Penicillium. It has been found as a natural contaminant of cheese, corn, peanuts, and various feedstuffs. Historically, thin-layer chromatography has been the most widely used method for quantitative determination of CPA in fungal cultures and agricultural commodities. Several liquid chromatographic (LC) and spectrophotometric methods have also been used, but these require extensive, time-consuming cleanup procedures to achieve accurate quantitation. More recently, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) have been developed for quantification of CPA, and an immunoaffinity column (IAC) has been developed for cleanup of sample extracts prior to quantification by ELISA or LC. In applying the IAC to the cleanup of peanut extracts, recovery of CPA from spiked samples ranged from 83.7 % to 90.8 %, and the method was successfully applied to the analysis of peanuts that were naturally contaminated with CPA.