Ability of low contents of biosorbents to bind the food carcinogen aflatoxin B1 in vitro

Abstract

In vitro experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of two new biosorbents (lettuce and field horsetail) in removing aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁). Formosa firethorn was used as reference material. The adsorption of AFB₁ (190 ng/mL) was investigated at two sorbent contents (0.5% and 0.1% w/v) and three pHs (2, 5, and 7). Batch experiments were performed at 40 °C for 2 h. Several methodologies were used to characterize the nature of the biosorbent-AFB₁ interaction. In general, when using biosorbents at 0.5% w/v, AFB₁ was well adsorbed by the three tested biomaterials (70 to 100%). Furthermore, with the lowest biosorbent content (0.1% w/v), significant AFB₁ adsorption efficiencies were attained at pH 5 (33 to 50%). Nevertheless, at pH 7, lettuce showed the highest ability against AFB₁ removal (95%). Further characterization of the AFB₁-loaded biosorbents demonstrated that chemical and physical mechanisms were involved in the adsorption process.