Study of aflatoxin B₁ production by Aspergillus parasiticus in bee pollen of Greek origin.

摘要

Aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) is a carcinogenic metabolite produced by certain Aspergillus species such as A. parasiticus and A. flavus. The beneficial properties of bee pollen have transformed this commodity into an increasingly frequent component of the human diet. As bee pollen is a substrate on which aflatoxigenic fungi can grow, AFB₁ production is likely. In the present study, we describe a method for aflatoxin B₁ determination in bee pollen utilising high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a fluorescence detector (FD). The recovery factor of the method was found to be 111% (RSD% 1.61), while the detection limit (LOD) was 0.08 ng AFB₁/g. An additional aim of this study was to investigate the growth of A. parasiticus and AFB₁ production in bee pollen. Results indicated that no mycelial growth was observed and no AFB₁ was detected in bee pollen samples containing natural microbiota throughout the entire observation period (20 days). In contrast, AFB₁ production in treated bee pollen samples (15 g pollen/flask) inoculated with A. parasiticus was significantly higher (p <= 0.05) compared to control samples (treated but not inoculated) throughout the entire incubation period, while no mycelial growth was apparent. Maximum production was observed on the 12th day (79.29 ng AFB₁/flask and 32.44 ng AFB₁/flask for inoculated and non-inoculated bee pollen, respectively). As a result, AFB₁ production in bee pollen is likely even following a minor contamination, which could occur randomly.