• Mycobiology
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.339-345
• /
• 2014

During 2011~2013, a total of 729 samples for 19 types of medicinal plant were collected from Seoulyekryungsi in Seoul, Korea, and investigated for the presence of aflatoxins. The samples were analyzed using immunoaffinity column cleanup and high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to a fluorescence detector after post-column derivatization. Aflatoxins were found in 124 out of the 729 analyzed samples: 65 containing aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), 24 with aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), 15 with aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), and 20 samples with aflatoxin G2 (AFG2). The ranges for positive samples were $0.1{\sim}404.7{\mu}g/kg$ for AFB1, $0.1{\sim}10.0{\mu}g/kg$ for AFB2, $0.1{\sim}635.3{\mu}g/kg$ for AFG1, $0.1{\sim}182.5{\mu}g/kg$ for AFG2, and $0.1{\sim}1,043.9{\mu}g/kg$ for total aflatoxins. Most of the medicinal plant samples (721, 98.9%) were below legal limits, but 8 samples exceeded the legal limits of 10 and $15{\mu}g/kg$ established by the Korean standard for AFB1 and total aflatoxins (the sum of AFB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2), respectively.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.24 no.5
• /
• pp.630-635
• /
• 1996

For a survey of the occurrence of aflatoxin M$_{1}$ (AFM$_{1}$) in domestic cow's milk, we developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system, and quantitated the toxin in cow's milk. In order to produce specific antibodies AFM, conjugated to bovine serum albumin (AFM$_{1}$-BSA) and Freund's adjuvant were immunized subcutaneously to rabbits. By use of the antiserum showing the highest titer and AFB$_{1}$-HRP conjugate, we established a competitive direct ELISA (cdELISA) for AFM$_{1}$, whose detection limit was 0.003 ppb. The cross-reactivities of the antiserum against aflatoxin M$_{1}$ M$_{2}$, B$_{1}$, B$_{2}$, G$_{1}$, G$_{2}$, B$_{2a}$, and G$_{2a}$, were 100, 29.9, 25.0, 2.7, 13.0, 0.65, 0, and 0%, respectively. When the cdELISA was applied to the cow's milk spiked with AFM$_{1}$ and followed by cleanup with C$_{18}$ cartridge, the mean recovery of the assay was 104% (mean of CV, 6.4%) in the final concentration of 0.01-1 ppb (10-1, 000 ppt). When cow's milk samples gathered from markets and farms were assayed by the cdELISA, the mean concentration and SD of AFM$_{1}$ was 80.4 $\pm$ 55.0 ppt (n=64; range, 5.6-280 ppt).

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.172-176
• /
• 2012

Doenjang is a traditional Korean fermented soybean product that provides a major source of protein. In this study, a total of 18 different home-made doenjang samples were examined for the presence of foodborne pathogens and the total aflatoxin levels. Using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to assess microbial quality and potential public health risk, we showed that total coliform levels in the doenjang samples ranged from 0 to $4.43{\pm}2.32{\times}10^6\;CFU/g$, and the maximum limit of Bacillus cereus was $4.67{\pm}2.0{\times}10^5\;CFU/g$. However, other foodborne pathogens, such as Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella spp., were not detected among the tested samples. One of the samples (S3) showed a maximum limit of $42.2{\pm}9.1\;{\mu}g/kg$ for aflatoxin levels, which was above the safety limit allowed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) regulatory agency. Further research is necessary to determine whether and how doenjang safety can be improved via elimination/reduction of microbial contamination during fermentation and storage or using microbial starter cultures for its fermentation.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.36 no.4
• /
• pp.887-894
• /
• 1996

Cyclopiazonic acid(CPA) known as stimulating the release of intracellular calcium, aflatoxin $B_1(AFB_1)$ causing gastrointestinal hemorrhage frequently were used as model toxic mycotoxins in these studies. First of all, the effects of various mycotoxins on the platelet aggregation response were determined. The effects of mycotoxins on the ATP release from platelet by aggregating factors were investigated. The results and conclusions obtained from these studies are : 1) CPA promoted ADP, collagen, thrombin, A.A. and PAF-induced rabbit platelet aggregation. $AFB_1$ inhibited collagen, A.A. and PAF-induced rabbit platelet aggregation only. 2) CPA increased both aggregation and disaggregation time, whereas $AFB_1$ decreased in a dose dependent manner. 3) CPA increased ADP, thrombin, A.A. and PAF-induced ATP release. $AFB_1$ increased A.A.-induced ATP release and decreased PAF-induced release in a dose dependent manner. In conclusion, CPA promoted platelet aggregation by the increase of ATP. Antiaggregating effects of AFB1 may be due to decreases of ATP. These data provide the basis for the future study of roles of ATP release in platelet aggregation.

• Mycobiology
• /
• v.50 no.6
• /
• pp.408-419
• /
• 2022

Filamentous fungi that could be classified into Aspergillus flavus/oryzae were isolated from traditionally fermented meju commercially available in Korea. The samples were analyzed for aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A contamination by HPLC; however, no toxin was detected. In addition, fungal and bacterial metagenomic sequencing were performed to analyze the microbial distribution in the samples. The results revealed that the distribution and abundance of fungi and bacteria differed considerably depending on the production regions and fermentation conditions of the meju samples. Through morphological analysis, ITS region sequencing, and assessment of the aflatoxin-producing ability, a total of 32 A. flavus/oryzae strains were identified. PCR analysis of six regions with a high mutation frequency in the aflatoxin gene cluster (AGC) revealed a total of six types of AGC breaking point patterns. The A. flavus/oryzae strains did not exhibit the high amylase activity detected in the commercial yellow koji strain (starter mold). However, their peptidase and lipase activities were generally higher than that of the koji isolates. We verified the safety of the traditionally fermented meju samples by analyzing the AGC breaking point pattern and the enzyme activities of A. flavus/oryzae strains isolated from the samples. The isolated strains could possibly be used as starter molds for soybean fermentation.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.18 no.4
• /
• pp.204-209
• /
• 2002

Andhra Pradesh is one of the major groundnut growing states in India. A total of 182 groundnut samples collected at harvesting from farmers fields in five districts, namely; Anantapur, Chittoor, Cuddapah, Kurnool, and Mahaboobnagar, during 1999 and 2000 rainy seasons were evaluated for the presence of mycotoxins (both aflatoxins and zearalenone) and toxigenic fungi. In samples collected from each district, average seed infection by Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium spp. was 11.9-18.3% and 5.6-12.8% in 1999, and 9.5-14.1% and 9.4-11.9% in 2000, respectively. Among the samples collected, 20.3% and 16.5% were contaminated with aflatoxin in 1999 and 2000, respectively, and in 11.4% and 8.7% of the seed samples collected in two seasons, the aflatoxin content was >30 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg. An alarming aflatoxin content of 851.9$\mu\textrm{g}$/kg was found in samples collected from Anantapur district during the rainy season in 1999. Zearalenone was not detected in any of the samples collected in 1999, while 2 out of 103 samples collected in 2000 were contaminated with 35.1 and 129.4$\mu\textrm{g}$/kg. Under in vitro cultural conditions, 35.8% of the 173 A. flavus isolates collected from the groundnut samples produced aflatoxins at concentrations of 94.3-1598.6 ng/$\textrm{m}{\ell}$ and 3% of the 266 Fusarium spp. isolates produced 98.1-847.3 $\mu\textrm{g}$/g of zearalenone. The results emphasize the need for a more systematic and regular monitoring of pre-harvest aflatoxin contamination.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.48-55
• /
• 1995

This study was performed to investigate the inhibitory effect of Aloe vera on the growth and aflatoxin production of Aspergillus parasiticus. Spore suspension of A. parasiticus ATCC 15517 was inoculated on the yeast-extract sucrose broth containing 0.1%, 0.5%, 1.0% and 10.0% of chloroform extract of Aloe vera and then incubated at 30$\circ$C for 7 days. Mycelial weight was 160.7 mg/5ml in control group and decreased by the addition of the extract with no significance. The mold caused decrease in pH of the media with and without the extract. pH in the group contained 10.0% of the extract showed significantly higher value of 5.10 than that of 4.90 in control group (p<0.05). Fluorescence spots of four aflatoxins were observed under the 365 nm of UV light after extraction of the media and TLC. In the result of separation and determination by HPLC, the aflatoxins were produced in the order of $B_1, G_1, B_2$ and $G_2$ in all groups. Production of aflatoxins $B_1, B_2$ and $G_1$ was reduced by the addition of the extract and decreased as amount of the extract increased. The production of aflatoxins $B_1$ and $B_2$ significantly reduced when the media contained more than 1.0% of the extract, and $G_1$ more than 0.5%, respectively(p<0.05). No reduction and no significant difference among groups were observed in case of aflatoxin $G_2$. With the above result, the extract of Aloe vera reduced the production of aflatoxin by A. parasiticus though it did not inhibit mycelial growth.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.18 no.5
• /
• pp.345-350
• /
• 1986

Crude saponins of soybean and Azuki bean (2.0 mg/plate)were most effective against Trp-p-2, and also all of legume saponins (2.0 mg/plate)were excellent effective against aflatoxin $B_1$. Crude saponins of taro, burdock and ginseng were remarkably effective at ranging from 1.0 mg to 2.0 mg per plate against MeIQ. Especially ginseng saponin was excellent effective and arrow root saponins was remarkably effective against MeIQ, respectively. Plant saponins of taro, lotus burdock, arrow root and ginseng except for dodok were most effective activities against aflatoxin $B_1$.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.154-160
• /
• 2014

The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and contamination levels of aflatoxin in Medicinal Herbs for Food and Medicine at Yakyeang market in seoul. 191 Samples 11 items medicinal herbs for food and medicine were evaluated for the aflatoxin contamination. in result 41 samples 10 items (21.5%) were detected in the alfatoxin, a high incidence of aflatoxins items are cassiae semen (50.0%), testudinis plastrum (43.8%) and Batryticatus Bombyx (40.0%), Polygalae Radix (31.2%), Zizyphi Semen (23.5%), Dolichoris Semen, Myristicae Semen (20.0%), Nelumbinis Semen (15.8%), Glycyrrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (7.4%), Hoveniae Semen Cum Fructus (4.3%). AFB1 were detected 27 cases (14.1%), AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 were detected 18cases (9.4%), 16cases (8.4%) and 5cases (2.6%). The excess cancer risk estimated using the cancer potency of aflatoxin B1 (7(mg/kg/day)-1 for HBsAg-and 230(mg/kg/day)-1 HBsAg+) was N.D ~ $3.79{\times}10^{-6}$ for hepatits B surface antigen negative (HBsAg-) and N.D ~ $9.68{\times}10^{-5}$ hepatits B surface antigen positive (HBsAg+) respectively.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.225-232
• /
• 1992

In order to develop an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) for detecting aflatoxin $B_1(AFB_1)$, we produced and purified antibodies, thereafter established and evaluated methods of direct and indirect competitive ELISA. Anti-AFB, antisera, produced by immunizing rabbits with $AFB_1$-1-(0-carboxymethy1)oxime-bovine serum albumin conjugate ($AFB_1$-BSA), were removed of anti-BSA antibodies by quantitative precipitation reaction and further purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation and DEAE-Sephadex A-50 ion exchange chromatography. Purified IgG fractions were used as anti-$AFB_1$ antibodies. The antibodies, whose titer was deterrnined extremely high above $2 \times 10^6$, showed low cross-reactivity of 3~34% against $AFB_1$ analogues such as G2, B2, and GI. From the standard curves of direct and indirect competitive ELISA for AFBI, the detection ranges were found 0.2~20 and 1~10, 000 ng/ml(ppb) respectively. In their sensitivity, stability, simplicity, and rapidity, the direct method was more suitable than the indirect method for practical use.