Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of fungi, which seriously threaten human health. Among them, ochratoxin A (OTA) and deoxynivalenol (DON) have become the main factors that pollute cereals and by-products. In order to achieve simultaneous detection of OTA and DON quantitatively, a novel dual-flux immunochromatographic assay (dICA) was established. The dual-flux assay is based on upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) as fluorescence tags to label antigens and gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as fluorescence quencher to label monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). The intensity of the green fluorescence (540 nm) of UCNPs can be used as an analytical signal, indicating the formation of antigen-antibody immune complexes, thereby indicating the presence or absence of the target analyte. The intensity of the red fluorescence (660 nm) of UCNPs is not affected and can be used as a quality control signal, and the dual-flux bidirectional single-line labeling mode allows for the simultaneous detection of two different mycotoxins on two test lines. This work indicated that the developed dICA provided a sensitive, rapid, and reliable on-site simultaneous detection of multiple mycotoxins.
Keywords: Deoxynivalenol; Dual-flux immunochromatographic assay; Luminescent imaging; Ochratoxin A; Simultaneous detection.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, part of Springer Nature.