A survey of moniliformin contamination in rice and corn from Keshan disease endemic and non-KSD areas in China.

Keshan Disease (KSD) is an endemic heart disease and moniliformin (MF) has been suggested as one of the etiological factors. In this paper, thin layer chromatographic (TLC) and high pressure liquid chromatographic (HPLC) methods were used for the determination of MF in the rice and corn samples collected from KSD areas and non-KSD areas. One hundred and twenty-three rice samples were analyzed and showed MF contamination in only 8 samples (KSD areas: 8.4% positive; non-KSD areas: 2.5% positive) ranging from 73.6 to 265.3 ng/g (mean concentration: KSD areas 156.3 ng/g; non-KSD areas 179.5 ng/g). One hundred and four corn samples in KSD areas and non-KSD areas were determinated by HPLC method, 45.2% samples were contaminated with MF (KSD areas: 81.4%; non-KSD areas: 19.7%) ranging from 52.3 to 1116.0 ng/g (mean concentration: KSD areas 488.9 ng/g; non-KSD areas 457.4 ng/g). The results showed that the contamination of MF in grains were significantly different between rice and corn, but not between the grains from the KSD areas and non-KSD areas, then casting doubt on the role of MF as an etiological factor of KS.