SPE-UHPLC-MS/MS Method for Simultaneous Quantification of 50 Pesticide Biomarkers Across Nine Current-Use Chemical...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Chemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Toxicology

Background:

• Human exposure to pesticides is a significant public health concern.
• Accurate biomonitoring requires sensitive and comprehensive analytical methods.
• Existing methods often lack the breadth or sensitivity to cover current-use pesticide classes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a simultaneous quantification method for 50 pesticide biomarkers across nine chemical classes in human urine.
• To establish a sensitive and robust assay for large-scale human biomonitoring studies.
• To provide a tool for assessing human exposure to a wide range of contemporary pesticides.

Main Methods:

• Ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was employed.
• Solid-phase extraction (SPE) was used for sample preparation from 0.2 mL of urine.
• Optimized chromatographic separation and mass spectrometric detection with polarity switching were utilized.

Main Results:

• The method successfully quantified 50 pesticide biomarkers from nine chemical classes.
• High sensitivity was achieved, with limits of detection from 0.01 to 0.88 ng/mL.
• Application to real samples showed significant inter-individual variability in biomarker concentrations.

Conclusions:

• The developed UHPLC-MS/MS method is comprehensive, sensitive, and robust for pesticide biomarker analysis.
• It includes 30 biomarkers relevant to the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
• This assay is a valuable tool for environmental health research and large-scale biomonitoring.