Validation of a rapid lateral flow method for the detection of cows' milk in water buffalo, sheep or goat milk.

For many years, the adulteration of milk from sheep, goats or water buffalos with cows' milk has been a widespread practice due to the higher cost of milk from those other species. Because of this, great concern has been shown by many Protected Designation of Origin councils that have to assure the quality and genuineness of the cheese produced by their associates. Therefore, the whole production chain needs analytical tools that allow the control of potential adulteration. Rapid methods to be used in the field are scarce and have not been validated according to international guidelines. The aim of this work has been to validate a rapid test based on lateral flow immunochromatography to detect cows' milk in milk from other species, including buffalo's milk, according to AOAC guidelines. No false-positive result was found after analysing 146 known negative samples from individual animals. The lowest level of adulteration with a Probability of Detection (POD) of 1.00 (confidence interval between 0.94 and 1.00) was found at 0.5% of cows' milk. This level is below the current EU allowed level of cows' milk, set at 1%. Variations in the time of assay, volume of the analysis buffer and different batches of the test were evaluated to detect any effect on the false-positive rate or on the limit of detection of the test. The effects of compositional factors (such as high level of fat, protein and somatic cell counts) were also evaluated. The new rapid test to detect cows' milk in milk from other species is shown to be an adequate tool to control milk quality in routine analysis. This kind of test is very easy to use and it can be performed by untrained staff during milk collection at the farm or upon arrival at dairies.

Determination of total plasma oxysterols by enzymatic hydrolysis, solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography coupled to mass-spectrometry.

The potential use of cholesterol esterases was tested to avoid alkaline hydrolysis for cleavage of plasma esterified oxysterols. The enzymatic hydrolysis was optimized by testing two sources of enzyme-Pseudomonas and bovine pancreas, presence of surfactants, incubation time and amount of enzyme. Free forms of 4ß-, 7-, 24-, 25- and 27-hydroxycholesterol (HC) as well 7-ketocholesterol (7-KC) were analyzed by liquid chromatography and mass-spectrometry using the deuterated internal standard, 25-HC(d6). Enzymatic hydrolysis was more effective using the Pseudomonas enzyme and in presence of surfactants. Compared to alkaline hydrolysis, it generated a cleaner chromatographic baseline and better recovery of the internal standard. Oxysterols were assayed with detection limits between 7 and 31 pg/mL. Interassay coefficients of variation were lower than 10% and extraction recovery efficiencies, higher than 90%. The procedure was used to characterize plasma levels of Cyp7b1-deficient rat, where it showed increased plasma levels of 7, 24 and 25-HC. Due to the low volume of sample required, it may be used in other animal models, particularly rodents, as well as in pediatric samples where sample amount is always a problem. Thus, the proposed new method offers mild enzymatic processing that greatly facilitates oxysterol determinations to delineate their role in physiopathology.

Online solid-phase extraction-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to determine free sterols in human serum.

An automated method for analyzing free non-cholesterol sterols in human serum using online solid phase extraction-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry is proposed herein. The method allows the determination of three phytosterols (sitosterol, stigmasterol and campesterol) and two cholesterol precursors (desmosterol and lanosterol). The analysis of sterols in human serum is critical in the study of cholesterol-related disorders, such as inherited familial hypercholesterolemias. Special effort was made to isolate the analytes from the serum lipoproteins, their natural conveyance through the bloodstream. The sample treatment consisted of a Bligh-Dyer extraction followed by dilution of the extract. This treatment allowed the sample to be injected into the online system and ensured the correct detection of the analytes, while avoiding the matrix effects commonly related to serum samples. The analytical performance showed linear ranges that covered two orders of magnitude, with correlation coefficients above 0.99. Limits of detection and quantification ranged from 0.2 ng/mL to 13 ng/mL and from 1.0 ng/mL to 43 ng/mL, respectively. Recovery when spiking serum with a half or a tenth of the average concentration reported in human serum ranged from 99% to 111% and from 102% to 120%, respectively. Intra-day precision and inter-day precision were below 20%.

Development of a fast sample treatment for the analysis of free and bonded sterols in human serum by LC-MS.

The analysis of sterols in biological fluids allows the clinical study of cholesterol related diseases. This research is focused on reducing the sample processing time of the determination of free and bonded sterols in human serum. Ten sterols were studied: cholesterol precursors (desmosterol, lanosterol, and cholestanol); phytosterols (stigmasterol, campesterol, sitosterol, and sitostanol) and oxysterols (7-α-hydroxy-4-cholesten-3-one, 24-hydroxycholesterol, and 27-hydroxycholesterol). Ultrasound assistance was used to diminish the reaction time during the alkaline hydrolysis for determining total sterols. Different retention mechanisms of solid-phase extraction were compared, two reversed-phase sorbents DSC-18 and polymeric Oasis-HLB and a novel zirconia-coated silica phase. DSC-18 and zirconia-coated silica were the most suitable sorbents to analyze these metabolites. The resulting extracts were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The analytical parameters were determined and better values were observed with DSC-18 cartridges for most sterols. LOQ were in the low ng/mL level. Recoveries were in the range 85-99%. Average intermediate precision was 15%. Accuracy for both cartridges was more than 92%. Zirconia-coated silica showed better performance for the oxysterols, with recoveries around 90%. The procedure allows the determination of free and bonded sterol precursors, phytosterols, and oxysterols in human serum.