Analysis of a broad range of perfluoroalkyl acids in accipiter feathers: method optimization and their occurrence in Nam Co Basin, Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are ubiquitous in the environment. They are prone to accumulate in organisms and have raised public attention in recent decades. Feather samples have been successfully applied as nondestructive indicators for several contaminants. However, a sophisticated analytical method for determining PFAAs in feathers is still lacking. In the present study, a series of conditions, such as the use of the solid-phase extraction cartridge type and extraction/digestion methods, were optimized for the analysis of 13 PFAAs in feathers. According to the spiked recoveries, a weak-anion exchange cartridge was chosen and the methanol was selected as the extraction solvent. In the present study, an optimized pretreatment procedure combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometric (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS) method was established for the determination of PFAAs in feathers. The recoveries and method detection limits of the PFAAs ranged from 71 to 120% and 0.16 to 0.54 ng/g, respectively. Finally, 13 PFAAs in four accipiter feather samples from Nam Co Basin, Tibetan Plateau, were analyzed, indicating that PFOS was the predominant PFAA in accipiter feathers, with an average of 4.67 ng/g, followed by the short-chain PFAAs, PFBS and PFBA, with averages of 1.91 and 1.39 ng/g, respectively. These results partly indicated the current situation of PFAA pollution in the Nam Co Basin, especially the existence of short-chain PFAAs in this region.

Are Feathers of a Songbird Model Species (The Great Tit, Parus major) Suitable for Monitoring Perfluoroalkyl Acids (PFAAs) in Blood Plasma?

“…7,8,11,14,16−21 However, there is an ongoing discussion as to whether this is also the case for emerging contaminants, such as PFAAs, 15,37 as the detection frequencies of these compounds are often low, and correlations between feathers and internal organs have only sporadically been observed. 15,24,26,28,40 With regard to PFAAs, significantly positive associations between internal concentrations and feathers have been previously reported for some compounds, but not for others. 37 In the present study, in which higher detection frequencies and concentrations were generally detected compared to those observed in other studies, the PFOA and PFOS concentrations in feathers and blood plasma were strongly and significantly positively correlated when data from all sites were pooled but not for the individual locations in most cases.…”

“…Wild birds have been shown to be important biomonitors of environmental contaminants. − Because of both ethical and practical aspects, the use of nondestructive or less-destructive sampling methods, including feathers, has increased in research. Although feathers have been used for many decades to monitor environmental metal concentrations, − they have only been used since the early 21st century to study persistent organic pollutants (POPs). − In addition, they have only been used during the past decade for the monitoring of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), ,− persistent and bioaccumulative anthropogenic chemicals that have been ubiquitously detected in the environment, wildlife, and humans. − …”

White-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) feathers from Norway are suitable for monitoring of legacy, but not emerging contaminants

“…While feathers have been used for decades as a matrix for monitoring environmental concentrations of metal (Burger, 1993), it was only in the early 2000s that feathers were proposed for legacy POP analyses (Dauwe et al, 2005;Jaspers et al, 2006). Recently, feathers have also been investigated as a matrix for analysing and monitoring PFASs (Gómez-Ramírez et al, 2017;Jaspers et al, 2013;Li et al, 2017;Meyer et al, 2009), and only a few studies published to date have investigated the suitability of NBFRs and PFRs monitoring in feathers (Eulaers et al, 2014;Svendsen et al, 2018). Consequently, little is known about the exposure to and deposition of these ECs into feathers.…”

A rapid method for the detection and quantification of legacy and emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in bird feathers using UPLC-MS/MS

“…For extraction, only methanol 100% was used as extraction solvent, because it has been proven equally successful in the extraction of PFOS from feathers as compared to alkaline and acid digestion [38].…”

“…PFAS have been detected in bird feathers in previous studies (reviewed by Jaspers et al [29]). Current analytical methods to extract PFAS from feathers rely either on acid/base digestion with organic solvent extraction, followed by a clean-up with granular activated carbon [31][32][33][34][35][36][37], or on organic solvent extraction followed by a solid phase extraction (SPE) clean-up [38]. As these studies focused primarily on legacy PFSAs and PFCAs, analytical methods for the determination of other groups of PFAS or PFAS alternatives in feathers are still absent.…”