Multiclonal plastic antibodies for selective aflatoxin extraction from food samples

- New generation of monolithic columns for aflatoxin extraction from real food samples.
- A promising alternative to commercial disposable immunoaffinity columns.
- Highly selective multiclonal plastic antibodies against all aflatoxins imprinted.
- Perfect intracolumn performance after ten successive runs.
- High intercolumn performance of different columns with same chemical composition.

Herein, we focused on developing a new generation of monolithic columns for extracting aflatoxin from real food samples by combining the superior features of molecularly imprinted polymers and cryogels. To accomplish this, we designed multiclonal plastic antibodies through simultaneous imprinting of aflatoxin subtypes B1, B2, G1, and G2. We applied Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and spectrofluorimetry to characterize the materials, and conducted selectivity studies using ochratoxin A and aflatoxin M1 (a metabolite of aflatoxin B1), as well as other aflatoxins, under competitive conditions. We determined optimal aflatoxin extraction conditions in terms of concentration, flow rate, temperature, and embedded particle amount as up to 25 ng/mL for each species, 0.43 mL/min, 7.0, 30 °C, and 200 mg, respectively. These multiclonal plastic antibodies showed imprinting efficiencies against ochratoxin A and aflatoxin M1 of 1.84 and 26.39, respectively, even under competitive conditions. Finally, we tested reusability, repeatability, reproducibility, and robustness of columns throughout inter- and intra-column variation studies.