Suspect Screening Analysis of Pooled Human Serum Samples Using GC × GC/TOF-MS

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health Sciences
• Analytical Chemistry
• Toxicology

Background:

• Humans are exposed to a vast array of chemicals daily.
• Identifying substances of emerging concern is crucial for human health risk assessment.
• Understanding chemical exposures requires advanced analytical techniques.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and quantify chemicals in human serum samples.
• To investigate sex-specific differences in chemical exposure profiles.
• To pinpoint emerging contaminants requiring further health risk evaluation.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of pooled human serum samples (n=16) using gas chromatography-gas chromatography/time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (GC × GC/TOF-MS).
• Suspect screening analysis followed by targeted confirmation of 19 substances.
• Stratification of samples by sex (female/male) and age (≤45/>45).
• Annotation of identified substances based on publicly available exposure source data.

Main Results:

• Tentative identification of 544 unique substances in human serum.
• Significant differences observed in chemical profiles between sexes: 472 in females vs. 271 in males.
• Discovery of 273 substances exclusively found in female serum samples.
• Identification of chemicals from various sources including food, drugs, commerce, and environmental contaminants.

Conclusions:

• Human serum contains a complex mixture of chemicals, with notable sex-specific differences in exposure.
• The findings indicate the presence of exposure sources uniquely relevant to females.
• This study underscores the need for sex-specific considerations in chemical risk assessment and environmental health research.