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Evaluating the Performance of Lateral Flow Devices for Total Aflatoxins with Special Emphasis on Their Robustness under Sub-Saharan Conditions

As aflatoxins are a global risk for humans and animals, testing methods for rapid on-site screening are increasingly needed alongside the standard analytical laboratory tools. In the presented study, lateral flow devices (LFDs) for rapid total aflatoxin screening were thoroughly investigated with re...

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Autores principales: Cvak, Barbara, Warth, Benedikt, Atehnkeng, Joseph, Parich, Alexandra, Moritz, Alexandra, Sulyok, Michael, Krska, Rudolf
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8618999/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34822526
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins13110742
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author Cvak, Barbara
Warth, Benedikt
Atehnkeng, Joseph
Parich, Alexandra
Moritz, Alexandra
Sulyok, Michael
Krska, Rudolf
author_facet Cvak, Barbara
Warth, Benedikt
Atehnkeng, Joseph
Parich, Alexandra
Moritz, Alexandra
Sulyok, Michael
Krska, Rudolf
author_sort Cvak, Barbara
collection PubMed
description As aflatoxins are a global risk for humans and animals, testing methods for rapid on-site screening are increasingly needed alongside the standard analytical laboratory tools. In the presented study, lateral flow devices (LFDs) for rapid total aflatoxin screening were thoroughly investigated with respect to their matrix effects, cross-reactivity, their performance under harsh conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and their stability, as well as when compared with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). To analyze the matrix effects, qualitative test kits offering a certain cutoff level were used to screen different nut samples. In addition, these tests were challenged on their cross-reactivity with 230 fungal toxins and metabolites. Furthermore, the resulting measurements performed under harsh tropical conditions (up to 38.4 °C and 91% relative humidity) in SSA, specifically Burkina Faso and Mozambique, were compared with the results from a well-established and validated LC-MS/MS-based reference method. The comparison of the on-site LFD results with the reference method showed a good agreement: 86.4% agreement, 11.8% non-agreement, and 1.8% invalid test results. To test the robustness of the cutoff tests, short- and long-term stability testing was carried out in Mozambique and Nigeria. For both experiments, no loss of test performance could be determined. Finally, a subset of African corn samples was shipped to Austria and analyzed under laboratory conditions using semiquantitative aflatoxin tests. A good correlation was found between the rapid strip tests and the LC-MS/MS reference method. Overall, the evaluated LFDs showed satisfying results regarding their cross-reactivity, matrix effects, stability, and robustness.
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spelling pubmed-86189992021-11-27 Evaluating the Performance of Lateral Flow Devices for Total Aflatoxins with Special Emphasis on Their Robustness under Sub-Saharan Conditions Cvak, Barbara Warth, Benedikt Atehnkeng, Joseph Parich, Alexandra Moritz, Alexandra Sulyok, Michael Krska, Rudolf Toxins (Basel) Article As aflatoxins are a global risk for humans and animals, testing methods for rapid on-site screening are increasingly needed alongside the standard analytical laboratory tools. In the presented study, lateral flow devices (LFDs) for rapid total aflatoxin screening were thoroughly investigated with respect to their matrix effects, cross-reactivity, their performance under harsh conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and their stability, as well as when compared with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). To analyze the matrix effects, qualitative test kits offering a certain cutoff level were used to screen different nut samples. In addition, these tests were challenged on their cross-reactivity with 230 fungal toxins and metabolites. Furthermore, the resulting measurements performed under harsh tropical conditions (up to 38.4 °C and 91% relative humidity) in SSA, specifically Burkina Faso and Mozambique, were compared with the results from a well-established and validated LC-MS/MS-based reference method. The comparison of the on-site LFD results with the reference method showed a good agreement: 86.4% agreement, 11.8% non-agreement, and 1.8% invalid test results. To test the robustness of the cutoff tests, short- and long-term stability testing was carried out in Mozambique and Nigeria. For both experiments, no loss of test performance could be determined. Finally, a subset of African corn samples was shipped to Austria and analyzed under laboratory conditions using semiquantitative aflatoxin tests. A good correlation was found between the rapid strip tests and the LC-MS/MS reference method. Overall, the evaluated LFDs showed satisfying results regarding their cross-reactivity, matrix effects, stability, and robustness. MDPI 2021-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC8618999/ /pubmed/34822526 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins13110742 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Cvak, Barbara
Warth, Benedikt
Atehnkeng, Joseph
Parich, Alexandra
Moritz, Alexandra
Sulyok, Michael
Krska, Rudolf
Evaluating the Performance of Lateral Flow Devices for Total Aflatoxins with Special Emphasis on Their Robustness under Sub-Saharan Conditions
title Evaluating the Performance of Lateral Flow Devices for Total Aflatoxins with Special Emphasis on Their Robustness under Sub-Saharan Conditions
title_full Evaluating the Performance of Lateral Flow Devices for Total Aflatoxins with Special Emphasis on Their Robustness under Sub-Saharan Conditions
title_fullStr Evaluating the Performance of Lateral Flow Devices for Total Aflatoxins with Special Emphasis on Their Robustness under Sub-Saharan Conditions
title_full_unstemmed Evaluating the Performance of Lateral Flow Devices for Total Aflatoxins with Special Emphasis on Their Robustness under Sub-Saharan Conditions
title_short Evaluating the Performance of Lateral Flow Devices for Total Aflatoxins with Special Emphasis on Their Robustness under Sub-Saharan Conditions
title_sort evaluating the performance of lateral flow devices for total aflatoxins with special emphasis on their robustness under sub-saharan conditions
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8618999/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34822526
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins13110742
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