Determination of twenty organophosphorus pesticides in blood serum by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

A large number of organophosphorus (OP) pesticides are used globally, and the effects of OP pesticides on human health have attracted attention. However, methods focusing on the determination of various OP pesticides in human blood serum are still scarce, and the exposure level of various OP pesticides in humans remains largely unknown. We have developed a method for the quantification of 20 OP pesticides in human blood serum simultaneously. The determination was performed using solid-phase extraction with a small blood serum sample volume (200 mL) and gas chromatographic analysis with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Among the 20 pesticides, limits of detection ranged from 0.01 to 2.70 ng mL À1 ; limits of quantitation ranged from 0.05 to 9.00 ng mL À1 ; linearity ranged from 0.02 to 135.00 ng mL À1 ; recoveries ranged from 90 to 120%; intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations were mostly less than 15% at 2.70 and 27.00 ng mL À1 in the spiked blood serum samples. This method was further used for the determination of OP pesticides in 160 human blood serum samples, which generated the first-hand data regarding the OP pesticide exposure profile in Chinese adults without occupational exposure.

Validation of a Multiresidue Analysis Method for 379 Pesticides in Human Serum Using Liquid Chromatography–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

“…Purification of as many as possible pesticides from serum samples with high recovery of target pesticides is also an important factor in sample preparation procedures. In various cleanup procedures, column chromatography (CC), , solid phase extraction (SPE), − liquid–liquid extraction (LLE), and protein precipitation (PP) , with acetonitrile solvent have been reported as representative preparation methods. CC and SPE are advantageous for a few specific target compounds, but take much time and effort to conduct and have some difficulty finding optimum elution condition in multiresidue analysis.…”

A simple and sensitive liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for quantification of multi‐residual pesticides in blood

“…This method is superior to other previous methods regarding its sensitivity and extraction procedures. As compared with the existing methods on LC-MS/MS for the analysis of pesticides [18,19,35]. This could simultaneously monitor only up to five or six pesticide compounds in blood samples because of the time-consuming solid phase extraction [15,16,21,36] procedure and the maximum sample volume.…”

Mobile Phase Selection by Optimization for the Determination of Multiple Pesticides Using Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

“…These instruments include the gas chromatography-atomic emission detector (GC-AED) [27] and the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [28]. Others instruments include gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) [29] and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) [30]. Unfortunately, the poor sensitivity of these instruments is their major setbacks.…”