title: A mass spectroscopic method for analysis of AHH-inducing and other polychlorinated biphenyl congeners and selected pesticides in fish.
abstract: The 209 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners exhibit a wide range in toxicity to fish, birds, and mammals. This paper discusses the use of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry negative chemical ionization (GC/MS-NCI) to quantify congeners of highly suspected toxicity such as IUPAC #77 (3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl) and #126 (3,3',4,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl). GC/MS analysis time needed to produce the necessary resolution was reduced to 1 h per sample or standard, allowing an autosampler to inject 12 samples in 24 hours, plus 12 standards/QC samples. Identification and quantification of some 60+ congeners and several selected pesticides and estimation of total PCBs are also possible within the 1 h analysis. For congeners of high chlorination (penta through octa), the method exhibited excellent sensitivity, such that we could not locate a fish which exhibited PCB levels below our calibrated quantitation range. NCI was not as sensitive for mono through tri and for some tetrachlorinated PCB congeners, an exception being PCB #77, for which sensitivity was of the same order as for the more highly chlorinated biphenyls. Long term stability was excellent. Over a 6-mo period, results of replicate analyses for PCB congeners and pesticides in a composited sample of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) from Lake Michigan had a relative standard deviation of 12% of the mean. Over the same time period, mean recoveries for samples spiked at concentrations similar to those in Lake Michigan lake trout were 90-102%. Response was linear over a wide range of concentrations for each of the analyzed compounds. This method is now being used for routine analysis of PCB congeners and selected pesticides in our laboratory.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fisheries Research Center--Great Lakes, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hesselberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001189:Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D004790:Enzyme Induction / Q000187:drug effects; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls; D001189:Aryl Hydrocarbon Hydroxylases