An Electrochemical Immunosensor for Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Mycotoxins Fumonisin B1 and Deoxynivalenol

We report an electrochemical immunosensing method for rapid and sensitive detection of two mycotoxins, fumonisin B1 (FB1) and deoxynivalenol (DON). A disposable screen-printed carbon electrode (SPE) was used as sensing platform. The working electrode part of SPE was modified by gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and polypyrrole (PPy)-electrochemically reduced graphene oxide (ErGO) nanocomposite film for effective anti-toxin antibody immobilization, enhanced electrical conductivity, and biocompatibility. Under optimized test conditions, the limit of detection and linear range achieved for FB1 were 4.2 ppb and 0.2 to 4.5 ppm (%RSD = 4.9%); and the corresponding values for DON were 8.6 ppb and 0.05 to 1 ppm (%RSD = 5.7%). The immunosensor can specifically detect the target toxin in co-existing toxins environment. The sensor exhibited high sensitivity and low matrix interference when tested using extracts obtained from spiked corn samples. Hence, our electrochemical immunosensing scheme can be adopted for highly sensitive and rapid detection of multiple co-contaminant mycotoxins in food and feed products.