Oliver Grundmann, Ph.D. and Ian Tebbett, Ph.D.   have published a piece in the February/March issue of Forensic Magazine in which they advocate the use of Thin Layer Chromatography. Here’s an excerpt:

“Other methods for the detection of mycotoxins include rapid screening by thin layer chromatography (TLC) as well as radio immunoassay (RIA) or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in serum, urine, gastric, and stool samples. A recently introduced ELISA for amanitine has been evaluated for its use in determining Amanita phalloides poisonings in urine, serum, and fecal samples. The ELISA-based approach yielded sufficient sensitivity and specificity compared to LC/MS and RIA methods in urine samples if analysis occurred within the first 36 hours after ingestion. Since ELISA kits do not require complex extraction procedures or the use of radioactivity, this might provide a time- and cost-effective alternative.

As low-tech as TLC might appear to be, it has been frequently used for qualitative identification of a variety of mycotoxins in biological fluids. Orellanine, a toxin from the mushroom Cortinarius orellanus or Fool’s webcap, has been identified by TLC in serum and urine after photodecomposition to orelline.”