IDENTIFICATION OF MYCOTOXINS IN KERATOMYCOSIS-DERIVED FUSARIUM ISOLATES BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY MASS-SPECTROMETRY

The production of mycotoxins from Fusarium species has been demonstrat ed in isolates cultured from patients suffering from keratomycosis. Th e method employed a combination of thin-layer chromatography directly performed on gel plugs taken from the growth medium, cartridge column chromatography, silylation and gas chromatography on a non-polar stati onary phase capillary column linked to mass spectrometry. The sensitiv ities of detection obtained for a signal-to-noise ratio of 33:1, were 200 pg for single stage GC-MS and 20 pg using tandem GC-MS-MS. Two myc otoxins, diacetoxyscirpenol and T-2 toxin were identified in three cul tures.