A 4-YEAR STUDY OF PLASMA OCHRATOXIN-A IN A SELECTED POPULATION IN TOKYO BY IMMUNOASSAY AND IMMUNOAFFINITY COLUMN-LINKED HPLC

Employing a competitive ELISA (cELISA) based on monoclonal antibody an d a novel immunoaffinity-column (IAC)-linked HPLC-fluorometry, ochrato xin A (OTA) levels in the plasma of 184 healthy volunteers (130 males, 54 females) were surveyed in Tokyo during the 4 years from 1992 to 19 96. It was found that 85% of the cases were positive for OTA except 38 % in 1994, and an average value in the positives was estimated as 68 p g/ml. This suggests that the population in Tokyo is exposed to OTA at high frequency, although the level in plasma is far less than that rep orted in Europe and Canada. A partial contribution of fermented dietar y foodstuffs, coffee and wine is suspected as the source of the OTA ob served in the human plasma. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.