Application of comprehensive 2D chromatography in the anti-doping field: Sample identification and quantification

Anabolic steroids in livestock production: Background and implications for chemical food safety

The use of steroids in livestock animals is a source of concern for consumers because of the risks associated with the presence of their residues in foodstuffs of animal origin. Technological advances such as mass spectrometry have made it possible to play a fundamental role in controlling such practices, firstly for the discovery of marker metabolites but also for the monitoring of these compounds under the regulatory framework. Current control strategies rely on the monitoring of either the parent drug or its metabolites in various matrices of interest. As some of these steroids also have an endogenous status specific strategies have to be applied for control purposes. This review aims to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of analytical strategies, whether targeted or non-targeted, and whether they focus on markers of exposure or effect in the specific context of chemical food safety regarding the use of anabolic steroids in livestock. The role of new approaches in data acquisition (e.g. ion mobility), processing and analysis, (e.g. molecular networking), is also discussed.

A rapid synthesis of molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles for the extraction of performance enhancing drugs (PIEDs)

It is becoming increasingly more significant to detect and separate hormones from water sources, with the development of synthetic recognition materials becoming an emerging field. The delicate nature of biological recognition materials such as the antibodies means the generation of robust viable synthetic alternatives has become a necessity. Molecularly imprinted nanoparticles (NanoMIPs) are an exciting class that has shown promise due the generation of high-affinity and specific materials. While nanoMIPs offer high affinity, robustness and reusability, their production can be tricky and laborious. Here we have developed a simple and rapid microwaveable suspension polymerisation technique to produce nanoMIPs for two related classes of drug targets, Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMs) and steroids. These nanoMIPs were produced using one-pot microwave synthesis with methacrylic acid (MAA) as the functional monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as a suitable cross-linker, producing particles of an approximate range of 120-140 nm. With the SARMs-based nanoMIPs being able to rebind 94.08 and 94.46% of their target molecules (andarine, and RAD-140, respectively), while the steroidal-based nanoMIPs were able to rebind 96.62 and 96.80% of their target molecules (estradiol and testosterone, respectively). The affinity of nanoMIPs were investigated using Scatchard analysis, with Ka values of 6.60 × 106, 1.51 × 107, 1.04 × 107 and 1.51 × 107 M-1, for the binding of andarine, RAD-140, estradiol and testosterone, respectively. While the non-imprinted control polymer (NIP) shows a decrease in affinity with Ka values of 3.40 × 104, 1.01 × 104, 1.83 × 104, and 4.00 × 104 M-1, respectively. The nanoMIPs also demonstrated good selectivity and specificity of binding the targets from a complex matrix of river water, showing these functional materials offer multiple uses for trace compound analysis and/or sample clean-up.

Recent progress on the detection of animal-derived food stimulants using mass spectrometry-based techniques

Background

The misuse of animal-derived stimulants in food is becoming increasingly common, and mass spectrometry (MS) is used extensively for their detection and analysis. There is a growing demand for abused-substances detection, highlighting the need for systematic studies on the advantages of MS-based methods in detecting animal-derived stimulants.

Objective

We reviewed the application of chromatography-mass spectrometry to the screening and detection of food stimulants of animal origin. Specifically, we analyzed four common animal sources of synthetic steroids, β-receptor agonists, zearalenol (ZAL), and glucocorticoids. We also explored the potential of using chromatography-mass spectrometry to detect and analyze animal-derived foods.

Methods

We searched and screened the Web of Science and Google Scholar databases until April 2023. Our inclusion criteria included a publication year within the last 5 years, publication language of English, and the research fields of food analysis, environmental chemistry, and polymer science. Our keywords were "mass spectrometry," "anabolic androgenic steroids," "β-2agonists," "glucocorticoids," "zearalenone," and "doping."

Results

Although traditional techniques such as thin-layer chromatography and enzyme-linked immunoassays are simple, fast, and suitable for the initial screening of bulk products, they are limited by their relatively high detection limits. Among the methods based on MS, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry are the most widely used for detecting food doping agents of animal origin. However, a sensitive method with high repeatability and a short analysis time for a large number of samples is still required. Advances in MS have enabled the detection of extremely low concentrations of these substances. Combining different techniques, such as high-resolution mass spectrometry, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, gas chromatography-combustion-isotope ratio mass spectrometry, ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry, and two-dimensional chromatography, offers significant advantages for detecting trace illicit drugs in animal-derived foods. Due to advances in assay technology and sample preparation methods, sample collection and storage methods such as dried blood spots, dried urine spots, and volumetric absorptive microsampling are increasingly accepted because of their increased stability and cost-effectiveness.

Significance

MS significantly improves the efficiency of detecting doping agents of animal origin. With the continuous development of MS technology, its application in the fields of doping detection and the analysis of doping agents of animal origin is expected to become more extensive.

Analysis of low-volatility pesticides in cabbage by high temperature comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography

High-temperature comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (HTGC × GC) using a longitudinally modulated cryogenic system (LMCS) was developed for the analysis of low-volatility pesticides in cabbage. The method applied DB-17HT and DB-5HT as the first and second dimensional (¹D and ²D) columns, respectively. Twelve pesticides, namely 6 organochlorines (4,4'-DDT, β-endosulfan, endosulfan sulfate, endrin, heptachlor, and dicofol), 4 carbamates (metolcarb, isoprocarb, methiocarb, and carbofuran), 1 organophosphate (chlorpyrifos), and 1 pyrethroid (permethrin), were spiked into cabbage samples and prepared using QuEChERS. The applied oven temperature was up to 340 °C, enabling the elution of all the target pesticides and the matrix. The effects of initial oven temperature program, temperature ramp rate, LMCS trap temperature, and modulation period (P_M) on the separation results were investigated, leading to the suitable conditions of 80 °C, 15 °C min^-1, 10 °C, and 12 s, respectively. The method detection limits, signal-to-noise ratio, and recoveries of the compounds were within the ranges of 0.01-0.09 mg kg^-1, 4.26-32.7, and 78-104%, respectively. Good linearity ranges within the concentration range of 0.1-1 ppm with R² > 0.9134 were also obtained with the intra and interday precisions of the peak areas of 0.4-9.8% and 1.0-10.2%, respectively.

A tandem liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC/LC-MS/MS) technique to separate and quantify steroid isomers 11β-methyl-19-nortestosterone and testosterone

Liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has become a mainstay analytical technique in pharmaceutical research and development and clinical diagnosis due to several advantages including excellent selectivity, specificity, and high sensitivity. LC-MS/MS has become the method of choice for steroids analysis due to its fast analytical time and improved specificity yet has a challenge in the separation and measurement of isomers with the same product ions. Here we describe a high-sensitivity LC/LC-MS/MS method that combines chiral chromatography and reverse-phase chromatography (LC/LC) along with MS/MS to rapidly separate and quantify steroid isomers of 11ß-methyl-19-nortestosterone (11ß-MNT) and endogenous testosterone in serum.

Advances in high resolution GC-MS technology: a focus on the application of GC-Orbitrap-MS in metabolomics and exposomics for FAIR practices

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) provides a complementary analytical platform for capturing volatiles, non-polar and (derivatized) polar metabolites and exposures from a diverse array of matrixes. High resolution (HR) GC-MS as a data generation platform can capture data on analytes that are usually not detectable/quantifiable in liquid chromatography mass-spectrometry-based solutions. With the rise of high-resolution accurate mass (HRAM) GC-MS systems such as GC-Orbitrap-MS in the last decade after the time-of-flight (ToF) renaissance, numerous applications have been found in the fields of metabolomics and exposomics. In a short span of time, a multitude of studies have used GC-Orbitrap-MS to generate exciting new high throughput data spanning from diverse basic to applied research areas. The GC-Orbitrap-MS has found application in both targeted and untargeted efforts for capturing metabolomes and exposomes across diverse studies. In this review, I capture and summarize all the reported studies to date, and provide a snapshot of the milieu of commercial and open-source software solutions, spectral libraries, and informatics solutions available to a GC-Orbitrap-MS system instrument user or a data analyst dealing with these datasets. Lastly, but importantly, I provide an account on data sharing and meta-data capturing solutions that are available to make HRAM GC-MS based metabolomics and exposomics studies findable, accessible, interoperable, and reproducible (FAIR). These FAIR practices would allow data generators and users of GC-HRMS instruments to help the community of GC-MS researchers to collaborate and co-develop exciting tools and algorithms in the future.