Establishment of an immunolateral chromatographic quantitative method for the detection of alternariol based on quantum dot fluorescent nanospheres in fruit

Alternariol (AOH) is a metabolic product of Alternaria, which has various toxic effects on humans and animals and its pollution is increasingly being discovered in fruits, vegetables, and grains. At present, the detection of AOH is mainly achieved through high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and immunological methods. However, there is currently a lack of fast detection methods for on-site use. Considering the unique advantages of immunological testing methods, this study developed an immunolateral chromatographic quantitative method for detecting AOH using quantum dot fluorescent nanospheres (QDFNs) as signal amplification materials. The detection range of AOH is 5.2–4798 μg/kg, 50 % inhibiting concentration (IC50) is 156.4 μg/kg, limit of detection (LOD) value is 2.32 μg/kg, and limit of quantification (LOQ) value is 6.96 μg/kg. The recovery rates of AOH in tomato and strawberry were 95.27%–111.63% and 88.43%–96.22%, respectively. In brief, the developed approach has good accuracy and repeatability and can be used for the detection of AOH.