Fast determination of ochratoxin A in serum by liquid chromatography: comparison with enzymic spectrofluorimetric method.

A rapid high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of low concentrations of ochratoxin A in serum is described. The extraction procedure was simple and short, and liquid chromatographic analysis was carried out isocratically on a reversed-phase C18 column, with methanol-water-acetic acid (30:70:1) as mobile phase and fluorescence detection (excitation at 336 nm, emission at 465 nm). The examined concentration range, 5-50 ng/ml ochratoxin, the recovery method was 87-94%, compared with 62-67% for the enzymic spectrofluorimetric method. The high-performance liquid chromatographic method was faster because the extraction procedure was shorter, and more sensitive so that small sample volumes could be used.