Analysis of cyanobacterial toxins (anatoxin‐a, cylindrospermopsin, microcystin‐LR) by capillary electrophoresis

Abstract

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) were applied to the simultaneous separation of cyanobacterial toxins (anatoxin-a, microcystin-LR, cylindrospermopsin). The analytical performance data of both methods, optimized for the three toxins, were similar with a precision of migration times smaller than 0.8 RSD% and a detection limit in the range of 1-4 microg/mL, using spectrophotometric detection at 230 nm. Both methods were applied to an analysis of cyanotoxins in water bloom samples and crude cyanobacterial extracts. The results obtained indicate that, for complex matrices, the sequential application of CZE and MEKC is necessary. It is recommended to use both CE techniques for the analysis of the same sample in order to confirm the results by an orthogonal approach.

MEKC: An update focusing on practical aspects

“…Since the previous review in 2002 [1], MEKC has been consolidated as a powerful technique for the separation of mixtures of charged and neutral analytes, and has become an effective alternative to LC as reflected in the large number of original papers published on this topic each year, including not only applications in a wide variety of fields, but also new approaches for improving sensitivity and resolution, theoretical studies on solute-solvent interactions [2][3][4][5][6], and combinations with other separation techniques [7][8][9][10] and with microreactors for on-line monitoring of bioprocesses [11,12]. A number of such papers have been discussed in several interesting general reviews [13][14][15].…”

Alteration of Cylindrospermopsin Content of <i>Aphanizomenon ovalisporum</i> (Cyanobacteria, Nostocales) due to Step-Down from Combined Nitrogen to Dinitrogen

“…3 ml culture samples were centrifuged (6.000 g for 3 min) and the pellets were lyophilized and used for CYN assay [27,28]. For CYN content assay of heterocysts, isolated heterocysts were resuspended in 1 mM Tris-HCl pH 7.6 buffer and sonicated for 2 min in 15 s intervals on ice at full power.…”

“…The rest of sonicated extract was centrifuged (10.000 g, 30 min, 4˚C) and the supernatant assayed for CYN content and a part of it saved for Western blotting. The cyanotoxin content was determined with the help of a slightly modified method of capillary electrophoresis as described earlier by our laboratory [27,28]. A longer capillary (85 cm) was used to obtain better separation of the compounds.…”

Pulsed galvanostatic control of a solid-contact ion-selective electrode for potentiometric biosensing of microcystin-LR

“…Capillary electrophoresis has also been applied to the separation and anal-ysis of MCs [10]. These methods can provide accurate results but have the drawbacks of intensive labor and time-consuming procedures.…”