title: Determination of ergosterol in organic dust by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
abstract: A gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric method was developed for the determination of ergosterol in organic dust. Samples were hydrolyzed under alkaline conditions, and the hydrolysate was extracted, purified on a silica-gel column, and subjected to derivatization. The limit of detection of the trimethylsilyl ether derivative of ergosterol was approximately 10 pg and that of the tert.-butyldimethylsilyl ether derivative was approximately 20 pg (injected amounts). House dust contained 6-45 micrograms ergosterol/g and air from a pig barn contained 0.2-0.3 ng ergosterol/liter. The proposed method can be used as a complement or alternative to microscopy and culturing for measuring fungal biomass in air-borne organic dust.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: B O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Axelsson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Saraf
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Larsson
mesh_terms: D001230:Aspergillus / Q000737:chemistry; D002176:Candida albicans / Q000737:chemistry; D002963:Cladosporium / Q000737:chemistry; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004875:Ergosterol / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D010407:Penicillium / Q000737:chemistry; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D004391:Dust; D004875:Ergosterol