A comparative study of the human urinary mycotoxin excretion patterns in Bangladesh, Germany, and Haiti using a rapid and sensitive LC-MS/MS approach

An improved "dilute and shoot" LC-MS/MS multibiomarker approach was used to monitor urinary excretion of 23 mycotoxins and their metabolites in hu- man populations from Asia (Bangladesh), Europe (Ger- many), and the Caribbean region (Haiti). Deoxynivalenol (DON), deoxynivalenol-3-glucuronide (DON-3-GlcA), T-2-toxin (T-2), HT-2-toxin (HT-2), HT-2-toxin-4- glucuronide (HT-2-4-GlcA), fumonisin B1 (FB1), afla- toxins (AFB1 ,A FB2 ,A FG1, AFG2 ,A FM1), zearalenone (ZEA), zearalanone (ZAN), their urinary metabolites α- zearalanol (α-ZEL) and β-zearalanol (β-ZEL), and cor- responding 14-O-glucuronic acid conjugates (ZEA-14- GlcA, ZAN-14-GlcA, β-ZEL, α/β-ZEL-14-GlcA), och- ratoxin A (OTA), and ochratoxin alpha (OTα )a s well as enniatin B (EnB) and dihydrocitrinone (DH-CIT) were among these compounds. Eight urinary mycotoxin biomarkers were detected (AFM1, DH-CIT, DON, DON-GLcA, EnB, FB1 ,O TA, andα-ZEL). DON and DON-GlcA were exclusively detected in urines from Germany and Haiti whereas urinary OTA and DH-CIT concentrations were significantly higher in Bangladeshi samples. AFM1 was present in samples from Bangladesh and Haiti only. Exposure was estimated by the calcula- tion of probable daily intakes (PDI), and estimates sug- gested occasional instances of toxin intakes that exceed established tolerable daily intakes (TDI). The detection of individual mycotoxin exposure by biomarker-based approaches is a meaningful addition to the classical mon- itoring of the mycotoxin content of the food supply.