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Electrochemical Screening of Ergosterol in Mold-Contaminated Food Using Square-Wave Voltammetry

Authors: Novák Dominik | Brožková Iveta | Sýs Milan | Vojs Marian | Mikysek Tomáš | Korecká Lucie

Year: 2025

Type of publication: ostatní - přednáška nebo poster

Page from-to: nestránkováno

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Language	Name	Abstract	Keywords
eng	Electrochemical Screening of Ergosterol in Mold-Contaminated Food Using Square-Wave Voltammetry	Ergosterol [ergosta-5,7,22-trien-3β-ol], an essential molecule for fungi, is integrated into the plasma membrane belonging to the group of mycosterols. The molecular structure of ergosterol closely resembles that of cholesterol 1. The differences are a methyl group on the first ring and two double bonds. From this analogy, its chemical properties can be inferred. Similar to cholesterol, ergosterol is crucial for membrane fluidity, permeability, and structural integrity. All this behaviour depends on the ergosterol content. Besides fungi, ergosterol is also present in animal cells, where it serves as the precursor of vitamin D, and it is called provitamin D2 1-3. The main producers of ergosterol are fungi, which are widely distributed in the environment. For this reason, ergosterol is a commonly encountered substance. In the past, ergosterol was used as a precursor of vitamin D for industrial production. Now, it is used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, thanks to its antioxidant, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory potential1,4. While microbiological methods are traditionally used for this purpose, they are often time-consuming, particularly due to complexity of food matrices. In comparison, detection of the ergosterol is faster and does not have a problem with the food matrix 4,5. Therefore, ergosterol could be utilized as a reliable biomarker for assessing fungal contamination in food products. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography (GC) are commonly used for the detection of ergosterol, both frequently coupled with mass spectrometry (MS) 5. Other detection methods are electronic nose or electrochemical methods. This is possible due to the presence of hydroxyl group in ergosterol structure, which can be oxidized or reduced. The used electrochemical methods include voltammetry, especially square wave voltammetry with use of the glassy carbon electrode (GC) or boron-doped diamond electrode (BDDE) 6. The aim of our study w	Ergosterol; Square-wave voltammetry; Boron-doped diamond electrode; Fungal contamination; Screen-printed electrode