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A high selective and sensitive liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for quantization of BPA urinary levels in children

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Abstract

A selective and highly sensitive liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method has been developed and validated for determination of Bisphenol A (BPA) in human urine using labeled d6-BPA as internal standard. BPA was purified from human urine by affinity chromatography on solid extraction AFFINIMIP® Bisphenol A cartridges, based on molecularly imprinted polymers. After purification, the samples were analyzed on a Phenomenex Kinetex 100 × 4.6 mm, 2.6 μm particle PFP reversed-phase HPLC column, coupled to a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer by an electrospray ion source. Analyses were performed in the multiple reaction monitoring mode and negative ionization; the product ions at 133.2 and 212.1 m/z for BPA and at 138.2 and 215.0 m/z for d6-BPA were monitored to assess unambiguous identification. The linearity of the detector response was verified in human urine over the concentration range 0.100–200 ng/mL. The detection limit was calculated as 0.03 ng/mL and the limit of quantification of the method is 0.10 ng/mL. This LC/ESI-MS/MS method was in-house validated evaluating specificity, trueness, within-day and between-days precision. The mean recoveries of BPA from spiked urine samples were higher than 94 % and good reproducibility (relative standard deviations ≤ 8.1 %) was observed. The developed method was applied to a pilot study involving 105 children, aged from 6 to 14 years (16 normal weight and 89 obese children), from the Regione Campania (Southern Italy). The aim of this study was to determine the concentrations of BPA in urine of children and possible correlations with childhood obesity.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all the donors for kindly providing urine samples for this study. This work was supported by the Italian Ministry of Health/IZSM (Portici, (NA) Italy) within the projects “Food and environmental safety: the problem of the endocrine disruptors” and by the MIUR (FIRB for young researchers 2008—Diano).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Medicine, Second University of Naples, Via S. M. di Costantinopoli, 16, 80138, Naples, Italy

    Carla Nicolucci, Ciro Menale & Nadia Diano

  2. Department of Experimental Medicine, Università degli Studi di Messina, AOU Policlinico G. Martino-Viale Gazzi, 98122, Messina, Italy

    Carla Nicolucci

  3. Institute of Genetic and Biophysics “ABT”, Via P. Castellino, 111, 80131, Naples, Italy

    Sergio Rossi, Ciro Menale, Damiano G. Mita & Nadia Diano

  4. Dipartimento della Donna, del Bambino e di Chirurgia Generale e Specialistica, Second University of Naples, Via Luigi De Crecchio, 4, 80138, Naples, Italy

    Emanuele Miraglia del Giudice & Laura Perrone

  5. Dipartimento di Chimica, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno, Via della Salute 2, 80055, Portici, NA, Italy

    Pasquale Gallo

  6. National Laboratory on Endocrine Disruptors, National Institute of Biostructures and Biosystems (INBB), Via P. Castellino, 111, 80131, Naples, Italy

    Ciro Menale, Damiano G. Mita & Nadia Diano

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  1. Carla Nicolucci
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Correspondence to Nadia Diano.

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Nicolucci, C., Rossi, S., Menale, C. et al. A high selective and sensitive liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for quantization of BPA urinary levels in children. Anal Bioanal Chem 405, 9139–9148 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-013-7342-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-013-7342-y

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