Adsorption and desorption studies using
Organically Modified Clinoptilolite

The contamination of feed with mycotoxins is a big feed safety issue and it often leads to economic losses in animal production.

Consequently, a variety of methods for the decontamination of feed has been developed, but the addition of mycotoxin detoxifiers (binders and modifiers) to the feed is the most commonly used method.

Mycotoxin binders aim to prevent the absorption of mycotoxins in the intestinal tract of the animal by adsorbing the toxins to their surface.

Mycotoxin binders are generally clay (inorganic) or yeast-derived (organic) products, whereas mycotoxin modifiers are comprised of microbes or enzymes.

 Mycotoxin binders reduce the bioavailability of mycotoxins by binding and immobilizing them in the gastrointestinal tract of animals.

In this study, in vitro tests were performed to determine the ability of organically modified clinoptilolite (MINAZEL PLUS) to adsorb:

• ⇰ Aflatoxin B1 (AFB₁)
• ⇰ Zearalenone (ZEN)
• ⇰ Ochratoxin A (OTA)
• ⇰ Fumonisin B1 (FB₁)

Adsorption/desorption assays consisted of suspending organically modified clinoptilolite (100 mg) in 10 mL of buffer solution (pH 3.0) spiked with AFB₁, ZEN, OTA and FB₁ (2 µg/mL of each mycotoxin).

The samples were incubated at 37°C for 30 minutes in an incubator shaker at 180 rpm. After centrifugation, the supernatant was analyzed by LC-MS/MS.

The remaining supernatant was removed, and the pellet was resuspended in pH 6.5 buffer, incubated at 37°C for 30 minutes, centrifuged, and the supernatant was analyzed by LC-MS/MS.

Organically modified clinoptilolite had the greatest ability to bind AFB₁ (100%), ZEN (92%), FB₁ (88%) and OTA (89%) at pH 3,0 (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Percent adsorption for organically modified clinoptilolite (OMC)

There was only minimal desorption of AFB₁ (0,1%), ZEN (2,3%), FB₁ (3,9%) and OTA (1,0%) from organically modified clinoptilolite at pH 6.5 (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Percent desorption for organically modified clinoptilolite (OMC)