Direct quantification of creatinine in human urine by using isotope dilution extractive electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Phthalate metabolites: Characterization, toxicities, global distribution, and exposure assessment

Phthalates are plasticizers in various products and regarded as endocrine disruptors due to their anti-androgen effects. Environmental occurrence and toxicities of parent phthalates have been widely reported, while the current state of knowledge on their metabolites is rarely summarized. Based on the available literature, the present review mainly aims to 1) characterize the potential metabolites of phthalates (mPAEs) using the pharmacokinetics evidences acquired via animal or human models; 2) examine the molecular and cellular mechanism involved in toxicity for mPAEs; 3) investigate the exposure levels of mPAEs in different human specimens (e.g., urine, blood, seminal fluid, breast milk, amniotic fluid and others) across the globe; 4) discuss the models and related parameters for phthalate exposure assessment. We suggest there is subtle difference in toxic mechanisms for mPAEs compared to their parent phthalates due to their alternative chemical structures. Human monitoring studies performed in Asia, America and Europe have provided the population exposure baseline levels for typical phthalates in different regions. Urine is the preferred matrix than other specimens for phthalate exposure study. Among ten urinary mPAEs, the largest proportions of di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) metabolites (40%), monoethyl phthalate (mEP) (43%) and DEHP metabolites/mEP (both 29%) were observed in Asia, America and Europe respectively, and mono-5-carboxy-2-ethypentyl phthalate was the most abundant compounds among DEHP metabolites. Daily intakes of phthalates can be accurately calculated via urinary mPAEs if the proper exposure parameters were determined. Further work should focus on combining epidemiological and biological evidences to establish links between phthalates exposure and biological phenotypes. More accurate molar fractions (F_UE) of the urinary excreted monoester related to the ingested diesters should be collected in epidemiological or pharmacokinetic studies for different population.

MS-Based Analytical Techniques: Advances in Spray-Based Methods and EI-LC-MS Applications

Mass spectrometry is the most powerful technique for the detection and identification of organic compounds. It can provide molecular weight information and a wealth of structural details that give a unique fingerprint for each analyte. Due to these characteristics, mass spectrometry-based analytical methods are showing an increasing interest in the scientific community, especially in food safety, environmental, and forensic investigation areas where the simultaneous detection of targeted and nontargeted compounds represents a key factor. In addition, safety risks can be identified at the early stage through online and real-time analytical methodologies. In this context, several efforts have been made to achieve analytical instrumentation able to perform real-time analysis in the native environment of samples and to generate highly informative spectra. This review article provides a survey of some instrumental innovations and their applications with particular attention to spray-based MS methods and food analysis issues. The survey will attempt to cover the state of the art from 2012 up to 2017.

Accurate quantification of creatinine in serum by coupling a measurement standard to extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Ambient ionization (AI) techniques have been widely used in chemistry, medicine, material science, environmental science, forensic science. AI takes advantage of direct desorption/ionization of chemicals in raw samples under ambient environmental conditions with minimal or no sample preparation. However, its quantitative accuracy is restricted by matrix effects during the ionization process. To improve the quantitative accuracy of AI, a matrix reference material, which is a particular form of measurement standard, was coupled to an AI technique in this study. Consequently the analyte concentration in a complex matrix can be easily quantified with high accuracy. As a demonstration, this novel method was applied for the accurate quantification of creatinine in serum by using extractive electrospray ionization (EESI) mass spectrometry. Over the concentration range investigated (0.166 ~ 1.617 μg/mL), a calibration curve was obtained with a satisfactory linearity (R² = 0.994), and acceptable relative standard deviations (RSD) of 4.6 ~ 8.0% (n = 6). Finally, the creatinine concentration value of a serum sample was determined to be 36.18 ± 1.08 μg/mL, which is in excellent agreement with the certified value of 35.16 ± 0.39 μg/mL.

Two low-cost digital camera-based platforms for quantitative creatinine analysis in urine

In clinical analysis creatinine is a routine biomarker for the assessment of renal and muscular dysfunctions. Although several techniques have been proposed for a fast and accurate quantification of creatinine in human serum or urine, most of them require expensive or complex apparatus, advanced sample preparation or skilled operators. To circumvent these issues, we propose two home-made platforms based on a CD Spectroscope (CDS) and Computer Screen Photo-assisted Technique (CSPT) for the rapid assessment of creatinine level in human urine. Both systems display a linear range (r(2) = 0.9967 and 0.9972, respectively) from 160 μmol L(-1) to 1.6 mmol L(-1) for standard creatinine solutions (n = 15) with respective detection limits of 89 μmol L(-1) and 111 μmol L(-1). Good repeatability was observed for intra-day (1.7-2.9%) and inter-day (3.6-6.5%) measurements evaluated on three consecutive days. The performance of CDS and CSPT was also validated in real human urine samples (n = 26) using capillary electrophoresis data as reference. Corresponding Partial Least-Squares (PLS) regression models provided for mean relative errors below 10% in creatinine quantification.

Cell-patterned glass spray for direct drug assay using mass spectrometry

In this work, the establishment of a glass spray mass spectrometry (GS-MS) platform for direct cell-based drug assay was described. Cell co-culture, drug-induced cell apoptosis, proliferation analysis and intracellular drug absorption measurement were performed simultaneously on this specifically designed platform. Two groups of co-cultured cells (NIH-3T3/HepG2 and HepG2/MCF-7) were cultivated and they showed high viability within 3 days. The biocompatibility of the platform facilitated the subsequent bioassays, in which, cyclophosphamide (CPA) and genistein were used as the model drugs. The distinctions of cell apoptosis and proliferation between the mono-cultured and co-cultured cells were clearly observed and well explained by in situ GS-MS measurements. A satisfactory linearity of the calibration curve between the relative MS intensity and CPA concentrations was obtained using stable isotope labeling method (y = 0.16545 + 0.0985x, R(2) = 0.9937). The variations in the quantity of absorbed drug were detected and the results were consistent with the concentration-dependence of cell apoptosis. All the results demonstrated that direct cell-based drug assay could be performed on the stable isotope labeling assisted GS-MS platform in a facile and quantitative manner.

Development and validation of an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method to measure creatinine in human urine

Despite decades of creatinine measurement in biological fluids using a large variety of analytical methods, an accurate determination of this compound remains challenging. Especially with the novel trend to assess biomarkers on large sample sets preserved in biobanks, a simple and fast method that could cope with both a high sample throughput and a low volume of sample is still of interest. In answer to these challenges, a fast and accurate ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was developed to measure creatinine in small volumes of human urine. In this method, urine samples are simply diluted with a basic mobile phase and injected directly under positive electrospray ionization (ESI) conditions, without further purification steps. The combination of an important diluting factor (10(4) times) due to the use of a very sensitive triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (XEVO TQ) and the addition of creatinine-d3 as internal standard completely eliminates matrix effects coming from the urine. The method was validated in-house in 2012 according to the EMA guideline on bioanalytical method validation using Certified Reference samples from the German External Quality Assessment Scheme (G-Equas) proficiency test. All obtained results for accuracy and recovery are within the authorized tolerance ranges defined by G-Equas. The method is linear between 0 and 5 g/L, with LOD and LOQ of 5 × 10(-3) g/L and 10(-2) g/L, respectively. The repeatability (CV(r) = 1.03-2.07%) and intra-laboratory reproducibility (CV(RW) = 1.97-2.40%) satisfy the EMA 2012 guideline. The validated method was firstly applied to perform the German G-Equas proficiency test rounds 51 and 53, in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The obtained results were again all within the accepted tolerance ranges and very close to the reference values defined by the organizers of the proficiency test scheme, demonstrating an excellent accuracy of the developed method. The method was finally applied to measure the creatinine concentration in 210 urine samples, coming from 190 patients with a chronic kidney disease (CKD) and 20 healthy subjects. The obtained creatinine concentrations (ranging from 0.12 g/L up to 3.84 g/L) were compared, by means of a Passing Bablok regression, with the creatinine contents obtained for the same samples measured using a traditional compensated Jaffé method. The UHPLC-MS/MS method described in this paper can be used to normalize the concentration of biomarkers in urine for the extent of dilution.

Drug detection and quantification directly from tissue using novel ionization methods for mass spectrometry

Solvent assisted ionization inlet (SAII) and matrix assisted ionization vacuum (MAIV) were used to quantify rapidly an antipsychotic drug, clozapine, directly from surfaces with minimal sample preparation. This simple surface analysis method based on SAII- and MAIV-mass spectrometry (MS) was developed to allow the detection of endogenous lipids, metabolites, and clozapine directly from sections of mouse brain tissue. A rapid surface assessment was achieved by SAII with the assistance of heat applied to the mass spectrometer inlet. MAIV provided an improved reproducibility without the need of a heated inlet. In addition, isotope dilution and standard addition were used without sample clean-up, and the results correlate well with liquid chromatography tandem MS using sample work-up. Using the simple surface methods, standard solutions containing clozapine and a deuterated internal standard (clozapine-d8) at different concentration ratios were used in the extraction and quantification of clozapine from brain tissue sections of a drug-treated mouse using different tissue thicknesses. The amount of clozapine extracted by these surface methods was independent of tissue thickness.

Secondary Electrospray Ionization

This chapter details the technique called extractive electrospray ionization (EESI) and describes its state-of-the-art developmental, mechanical and experimental aspects and shows its most important applications. EESI is a sensitive, matrix-tolerant secondary electrospray ionization technique, which is in the focus of ongoing investigations. The strength of EESI is its ability to ionize various compounds directly out of the sample without preparation or chromatographic separation. Although it appears to be not always the most sensitive method, it has shown enormous capabilities for various applications such as breath or skin analysis, the classification of perfumes, detection of melamine in milk and identification of the freshness of frozen meat or fruit.

Detection of histamine in beer by nano extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

In this study, rapid quantitative detection of histamine in beer was achieved by using nano extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (nano EESI-MS) coupling with standard addition method. Based on the MS(2) experiment, histamine concentrations in three beer samples were determined to be 1.10 ± 0.12 µg/ml, 0.81 ± 0.09 µg/ml and 0.79 ± 0.09 µg/ml. The limit of detection for this method was calculated to be 0.02 µg/ml. These results show that this novel method can be used for direct, rapid and sensitive detection of histamine in beer without any tedious sample pretreatment.

Direct determination of urinary creatinine by reactive-thermal desorption-extractive electrospray-ion mobility-tandem mass spectrometry

A direct, ambient ionization method has been developed for the determination of creatinine in urine that combines derivatization and thermal desorption with extractive electrospray ionization and ion mobility-mass spectrometry. The volatility of creatinine was enhanced by a rapid on-probe aqueous acylation reaction, using a custom-made thermal desorption probe, allowing thermal desorption and ionization of the monoacylated derivative. The monoacyl creatinine [M + H](+) ion (m/z 156) was subjected to mass-to-charge selection and collision induced dissociation to remove the acyl group, generating the protonated creatinine [M + H](+) product ion at m/z 114 before an ion mobility separation was applied to reduce chemical noise. Stable isotope dilution using creatinine-d3 as internal standard was used for quantitative measurements. The direct on-probe derivatization allows high sample throughput with a typical cycle time of 1 min per sample. The method shows good linearity (R(2) = 0.986) and repeatability (%RSD 8-10%) in the range of 0.25-2.0 mg/mL. The creatinine concentrations in diluted urine samples from a healthy individual were determined to contain a mean concentration of 1.44 mg/mL creatinine with a precision (%RSD) of 9.9%. The reactive ambient ionization approach demonstrated here has potential for the determination of involatile analytes in urine and other biofluids.