Biomonitoring of Mycotoxins the Silent Invaders, Their Subtle Assault on Human and Animal Health

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Mycotoxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 April 2025 | Viewed by 867

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Sciences, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, University of Valencia | UV, E-46100 Valencia, Spain
Interests: food safety; mass spectrometry analysis; proteomics; risk assessment; toxicology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, Food Sciences, Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, University of Valencia | UV, E-46100 Valencia, Spain
Interests: food safety; toxicology; in vitro studies; risk asessment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biomonitoring is an important tool in assessing the impact of toxicants; it consists of measuring toxicants or their metabolites either in tissues, secreta, excreta, expired air or any combination of them to evaluate exposure and health risk compared to an appropriate reference. The high variety of possible metabolites produced in the organism or environment forces us to use selective and sensible equipment which can show a complete pathway of absorption, distribution, metabolization and elimination of these compounds. Mycotoxins are present in small concentrations in many foods and feeds. Mycotoxins can be notably biotransformed and detoxified in the liver, as well as in the digestive tract. Their possible metabolization and subsequent biotransformation is predominantly meditated by cytochrome P450, although other enzymes may intervene. Such biotransformation processes should transform the toxins to non-toxic metabolites but they may possibly result in unexpectedly high toxicity. Therefore, the verification of biotransformation and bioavailability provides valuable information to correctly interpret occurrence data and biomonitoring results. The high development and innovation in chromatography equipment (GC or LC) coupled to spectrometry detectors (QTrap-MS/MS, MS/MS tandem, QTOF-MS/MS) permits us the extension of this biotransformation through biomonitoring.

We are pleased to invite you collaborate on this Special Issue which aims to include works related to mycotoxins’ biotransformation and biomonitoring through in vivo and in vitro studies with the newest methodologies and techniques. 

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: analytical skill in biological samples; in vivo studies about biotransformation; in vitro studies about biotransformation; risk assessment through biomonitoring.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Cristina Juan García
Dr. Ana Juan-García
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • mycotoxins
  • biomonitoring
  • blood
  • cells
  • biotransformation
  • in vitro
  • in vivo
  • mass spectrometry

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

31 pages, 4060 KiB  
Article
Contamination Status and Health Risk Assessment of 73 Mycotoxins in Four Edible and Medicinal Plants Using an Optimized QuEChERS Pretreatment Coupled with LC-MS/MS
by Xiaojing Huang, Rui Feng, Qing Hu, Xiuhong Mao and Heng Zhou
Toxins 2025, 17(2), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins17020052 - 23 Jan 2025
Viewed by 451
Abstract
The current status of multi-mycotoxin contamination in edible and medicinal plants demands urgent development of high-throughput analytical methods for mycotoxin detection. In this study, a reliable and sensitive method for the simultaneous analysis of 73 mycotoxins was established and successfully applied to detect [...] Read more.
The current status of multi-mycotoxin contamination in edible and medicinal plants demands urgent development of high-throughput analytical methods for mycotoxin detection. In this study, a reliable and sensitive method for the simultaneous analysis of 73 mycotoxins was established and successfully applied to detect mycotoxins in 260 samples of four dual-purpose plants (lotus seed, coix seed, licorice root, and dried tangerine peel). Sample preparation involved optimized QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe) extraction combined with liquid–liquid extraction purification, and an enhanced ion pair library was established to reduce matrix interference and improve the method’s universality. Method validation demonstrated recovery rates ranging from 61.6% to 118.6% for all compounds, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) below 15%. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) ranged from 0.25–12.25 μg/kg and 0.5–25 μg/kg, respectively. Based on the contamination analysis and health risk assessment using Margin of Exposure (MOE) and Hazard Index (HI) methods, we found that multi-mycotoxin contamination is highly prevalent in edible and medicinal plants, with different components being susceptible to invasion by distinct fungal genera. Seed-type plants showed high susceptibility to Aspergillus (53.3%) and Fusarium (22.2%) contamination, with MOE values below 10,000 for aflatoxins indicating potential health risks. Physical state and good storage conditions significantly influenced contamination levels, with fragmented samples showing substantially higher mycotoxin levels. Additionally, mycotoxins with associated biosynthetic metabolic pathways were frequently detected simultaneously in highly contaminated samples. Based on these findings, we recommend implementing strict moisture control during storage, maintaining intact product form where possible, and establishing comprehensive supplier qualification systems. This study provides valuable reference for monitoring mycotoxin contamination in similar plants. Full article
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