Abstract:

A HPLC method was established for the determination of versicolorin A (VA) in Aspergillus parasiticus contaminated rice using the VA prepared in our laboratory as a reference standard, which was prepared from the fermented mycelia of Aspergillus parasiticus ATCC 36537 through organic solvent extraction followed by semi-preparative HPLC purification. Samples (like rice artificially contaminated with Aspergillus parasiticus GIM 3395 in this study) were extracted with acetone, cleaned up on a silica column and analyzed using a HPLC system equipped with a UV detector at 288 nm wavelength. Results showed that the standard curve of VA exhibited good linearity over the concentration range of 100 to 1250 ng/mL with more than 0.999 correlation coefficient. Average recoveries of 3 replicates of VA in a blank rice sample spiked at 3 levels were between 84.12% and 105.12% with an average relative standard deviation of less than 7.5%. The limit of detection was 50 ng/mL. This method proved to be sensitive, stable and economical and thus is most suitable for the quantification of VA in cereal grains.

Key words: versicolorin A, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), column chromatography, UV detector