Analysis of zearalenone and alpha-zearalenol in urine of ruminants using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

The present paper describes a sensitive procedure for quantitative analysis of the Fusarium mycotoxins zearalenone and alpha-zearalenol in urine of ruminants. Extraction is done with an octadecyl (C18) column and cleanup with a silica column providing a preparation that is analyzed by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The trimethylsilyl ether derivatives of zearalenone and alpha-zearalenol yield molecular ions with m/z 462 and 536, respectively. These ions are selected in the first mass analyzer and then fragmented in a collision cell to give characteristic daughter ions (m/z 151, 333, 318, and 446). The method is known as multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). Elimination of chemical background noise by selecting proper fragment ions produces chromatograms in which identification and quantitation in a biological matrix is possible. The method was tested with sheep urine from an experimental feeding trial and was used to confirm natural mycotoxicosis of cows affected with zearalenone. Zearalenone (1 ppb) and alpha-zearalenol (14 ppb) were found in 2 different cow urine samples. The detection limit for both zearalenone and zearalenol is 1 ppb (1 ng/mL) in urine and is linear between 1 and 20 ppb for the former and 1 and 10 ppb for the latter.