title: Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for fatty acid ethyl esters in meconium: assessment of prenatal exposure to alcohol in two European cohorts.
abstract: Fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) in meconium emerged as a reliable, direct biological marker for establishing fetal exposure to ethanol. We developed an LC-MS/MS method for ethyl laurate, ethyl myristate, ethyl palmitate, ethyl palmitoleate, ethyl stearate, ethyl oleate, ethyl linoleate, ethyl linolenate, and ethyl arachidonate using ethyl heptadecanoate as the internal standard. The analytes were extracted from meconium with hexane, followed by solid-phase extraction with aminopropyl-silica columns. Chromatography was performed on a C(8) reversed-phase column using water/isopropanol/acetonitrile (20:40:40, v/v/v) as a mobile phase. A triple quadrupole mass spectrometer that monitored the transitions in multiple reaction-monitoring mode was used for the detection of the analytes. Limits of quantification (LOQs) varied between 0.12 and 0.20 nmol/g. Calibration curves were linear from LOQs to 50 nmol/g for all analytes, with a minimum r(2)>0.99. At three concentrations spanning the linear dynamic range, mean recoveries ranged between 53.6 and 86.7% for the different analytes. The validated method was applied to analysis of meconium in newborns of two European cities. The two cohorts presented with different prevalence of gestational ethanol consumption during pregnancy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Therapeutic Research and Medicines Evaluation, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. simona.pichini@iss.it
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pichini
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.forename: Joey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gareri
authors.forename: Gideon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Koren
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Garcia-Algar
authors.forename: Oriol
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Vall
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vagnarelli
authors.forename: Piergiorgio
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zuccaro
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marchei
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D002947:Cities; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004952:Esters; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D063647:Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006586:Hexanes / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008470:Meconium / Q000737:chemistry*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D015995:Prevalence; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D052616:Solid Phase Extraction; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D004952:Esters; D005227:Fatty Acids; D006586:Hexanes