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Automated and fast online method for simultaneously determining a broad spectrum of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in a small volume of cerebrospinal fluid

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Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are potentially neurotoxic compounds. Levels of PFASs in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) could directly reflect their potential harm to the central nervous system. Because of the variety of PFASs and the rarity of CSF, there is an urgent need to establish a rapid online method to detect a broad spectrum of PFASs accurately and simultaneously by consuming a small amount of CSF. In this study, we developed a fast and automated method to analyze 52 PFASs in human CSF samples using online TurboFlow ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Our method offered excellent matrix-matched standard curve linearity (correlation coefficient > 0.99), good limits of quantitation (MLOQs) (0.01 to 0.08 ng mL−1), satisfactory accuracy (recoveries of 74.6%–119.1%) and precision (relative standard deviations of 1.4%–13.2%), small sample amount consumption (50 μL), and fast analysis time (18 min per sample) without complex sample pretreatment procedures. These are advantageous for the high throughput screening of PFASs in environmental epidemiology studies. Repeated freeze–thaw experiments showed that it was better to perform the analytical process soon as possible after sample collection. The established method was used to analyze PFASs in 60 people. Short-chain PFASs, perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPeA), and novel PFASs [sodium 2-(N-ethylperfluorooctane-1-sulfonamido)ethyl phosphate (SAmPAP), perfluoroethylcyclohexanesulfonate (PFECHS), and perfluoro-3, 7-dimethyloctanoic acid (P37DMOA)] were reported in CSF for the first time. PFBA and PFPeA were detected in all samples with mean concentrations of 0.24 and 0.22 ng mL−1, respectively. We also calculated the blood–brain barrier transmission efficiency of PFASs (RPFAS), and the mean RPFBA value was above 1, which indicated that PFBA might transfer from serum to CSF.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21876005, 22206009), Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality (No. 7192040), Capital Health Research and Development of Special Fund (No. 2020-2-2056), and Open Fund of the State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety Hazard Factors and Risk Prevention and Control of Agricultural Products Jointly Built by the Province and the Ministry (No. 2021DG700024-KF202216). We thank LetPub (www.letpub.com) for their linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Research Centre, Beijing Tongren hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Jun Shang & Yingshi Piao

  2. Key Laboratory of Beijing on Regional Air Pollution Control, Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Environment and Life Sciences, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China

    Ke Gao & Liping Lu

  3. Neurology department, Beijing Tongren hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

    Bowen Chi, Qiuying Ma & Jiawei Wang

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  1. Jun Shang
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Correspondence to Ke Gao or Jiawei Wang.

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Human CSF samples were collected from inpatients in the Department of Neurology, Beijing Tongren Hospital. The use of human samples was approved by the appropriate ethics committee (Beijing University of Technology Ethics Committee) and the study was carried out in accordance with ethical standards.

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The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Shang, J., Gao, K., Chi, B. et al. Automated and fast online method for simultaneously determining a broad spectrum of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in a small volume of cerebrospinal fluid. Anal Bioanal Chem 415, 1221–1233 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-04507-4

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