Detoxification of zearalenone by double dielectric barrier discharge cold plasma: Efficiency, transformation products, and cytotoxicity assessment.

Zearalenone (ZEN), a typical Fusarium-derived mycotoxin, accumulates widely in corn throughout harvesting, storage and processing. Upon entering organisms, ZEN is metabolized into α-zearalenol and β-zearalenol, which disrupt the endocrine systems of humans and animals, posing threats to food safety as well as human and livestock health. Efficient, eco-friendly and mild detoxification technologies for ZEN degradation remain limited. Herein, double dielectric barrier discharge (DDBD) cold plasma technology was adopted to degrade ZEN solution (1 μg/mL). Under fixed conditions (current 1 A, duty cycle 80%, gas flow rate 0.8 L/h), the optimal process parameters were determined as applied voltage100 V, discharge frequency 180 Hz, discharge gap 2 mm and treatment time 6 min, yielding a degradation efficiency of 99.15%. Six ZEN degradation products (M1-M6) were successfully annotated, generated via multiple reaction pathways including dehydroxylation, dehydration, ketonization, hydrogenation and deoxygenation, which collectively destroyed the core chemical structure of ZEN. Furthermore, the DDBD-treated mixture showed reduced cytotoxicity compared to pristine ZEN, as verified by assays using human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells and zebrafish embryos. These findings lay a solid theoretical foundation for the application of DDBD cold plasma in the control of ZEN contamination.