Determination of zearalenone by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and application to a pharmacokinetic study

Zearalenone, a mycotoxin biosynthesized by various Fusarium fungi, is widely found as a contaminant in grains and animal feeds. This study describes a rapid and sensitive LC/MS/MS assay method for the quantification of zearalenone in rat serum. The assay was validated to demonstrate the specificity, linearity, recovery, lower limit of quantification (LLOQ), accuracy and precision. The multiple reaction monitoring was based on the transition of m/z 317.0 → 130.9 for zearalenone and 319.0 → 204.8 for zearalanone (internal standard). The assay utilized a single liquid-liquid extraction with t-butyl methyl ether and isocratic elution, and the LLOQ was 0.5 ng/mL using 0.1 mL rat serum. The assay was linear over a concentration range from 0.5 to 200 ng/mL, with correlation coefficients >0.9996. The mean intra- and inter-day assay accuracy was 101.2-112.9 and 96.3-108.0%, respectively. The mean intra- and inter-day precision was between 1.3-7.6 and 3.6-10.6%, respectively. The developed assay was applied to a pharmacokinetic study after a bolus intravenous injection of zearalenone in rats.