Development and Application of Tandem LC-MS Method for the Determination of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Toxins for Pollution Monitoring

In the present study, the development of the tandem liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) method for the sensitive and selective determination of eight paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) (GTX1, GTX2, GTX3, GTX4, GTX5, dcGTX2, dcGTX3 and dcNEO-b) toxins was investigated. Various experimental factors affecting the pretreatment and LC-MS procedures were optimzed, respectively. Using slected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode in LC-MS analysis, the acquired calibration curves were strictly linear with the value of r(2) more than 0.996 for the eight targeted analyses. The obtained data expressed as relative standard deviations (RSDs), for the within-laboratory reproducibility and repeatability were less than 6.9% and 7.9%, respectively. The feasibility of the proposed method was finally validated by analyzing the eight PSPs in shellfish samples from diverse Chinese sea areas for the quality assurance of the aquatic producs and enviroment protection monitoring.