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Updated: Jun 29, 2025
Real-time Breath Analysis by Using Secondary Nanoelectrospray Ionization Coupled to High Resolution Mass Spectrometry
Published on: March 9, 2018
Wearable sampling of proteins from human exhaled aerosols for nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
Shen-Hui Cai1, Baixue Wang1, Jianfeng Zhang1
1Institute of Mass Spectrometry and Atmospheric Environment, Guangdong Provincial Engineering Research Center for On-line Source Apportionment System of Air Pollution, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Speed Capability Research, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Rationale:
Human exhaled breath usually contains unique proteins that may provide clues to characterize individual physiological activities and many diseases. However, the concentration of exhaled proteins in exhaled breath is extremely low and usually does not reach the detection limits of all online breath mass spectrometry instruments. Therefore, developing a new breath sampler for collecting and characterizing exhaled proteins is important.
Methods:
In this study, a new mask-based wearable sampler was developed by fixing metal materials into the inner surface of the KN95 mask. Human exhaled proteins could be directly adsorbed onto the metal material while wearing the mask. After sampling, the collected proteins were eluted, digested, and identified using nano-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (nano-LC-MS/MS).
Results:
The adsorption of exhaled proteins was evaluated, showing that modified gold foil is an effective material for collecting exhaled proteins. Various endogenous proteins were successfully identified from exhaled breath, many of which can be potential biomarkers for disease diagnosis.
Conclusions:
By coupling the newly developed mask sampler with nano-LC-MS/MS, human exhaled proteins were successfully collected and identified. Our results show that the mask sampler is wearable, simple, and convenient, and the method is noninvasive for investigating disease diagnosis and human health.
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