Evaluation of a fluorodensitometric method for analysis of ergosterol as a fungal marker in compound feeds

Ergosterol is the principal sterol of fungi and plays an essential role as a component of the cell membrane and other cell constituents. This molecule is considered a good marker of fungal contamination in foods and feeds. This paper reports a rapid and sensitive method to test ergosterol content in...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of food protection 1999-06, Vol.62 (6), p.686-690
Main Authors: Bailly, J.D, Le Bars, P, Pietri, A, Benard, G, Le Bars, J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Feed - microbiology
Biological and medical sciences
Biomarkers
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
Chromatography, Thin Layer - methods
Colony Count, Microbial
derivatives
ergosterol
Ergosterol - analysis
evaluation
Evaluation Studies as Topic
Feed and pet food industries
feeds
Fluorescence
Food industries
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
fungi
Fungi - chemistry
Fungi - isolation & purification
methodology
microbial contamination
mixtures
quantitative analysis
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Ergosterol is the principal sterol of fungi and plays an essential role as a component of the cell membrane and other cell constituents. This molecule is considered a good marker of fungal contamination in foods and feeds. This paper reports a rapid and sensitive method to test ergosterol content in compound feeds based on fluorodensitometry after thin-layer chromatography (TLC) separation. This method involves a thermal treatment of TLC plates that leads to the formation of a highly fluorescent ergosterol derivative. Such a dosage allows ergosterol testing in any naturally contaminated samples (limit of detection: 1 ppm of ergosterol) and gives results in close agreement with high-pressure liquid chromatography determination. Moreover, values obtained on mixed feeds for animals at different steps of fungal contamination are linked to quantitative development of storage fungi, evaluated by mycological technique, reinforcing the interest of a rapid method for measuring this fungal marker.
ISSN:0362-028X
1944-9097
DOI:10.4315/0362-028X-62.6.686