title: Determination of PAHs and OH-PAHs in rat brain by gas chromatography tandem (triple quadrupole) mass spectrometry.
abstract: An efficient and selective method for the quantitative determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their monohydroxylated metabolites (OH-PAHs) in rat brain tissue using gas chromatography tandem (triple quadrupole) mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) was developed and validated. The list of molecules investigated comprised the 16 PAHs from the US-EPA list and 53 of their OH-PAHs. Brain extract was submitted to enzymatic hydrolysis, followed by liquid-liquid extraction, and then purified by solid-phase extraction. Limits of quantification ranged from 0.6 to 29 pg/mg and from 0.5 to 30 pg/mg for PAHs and OH-PAHs respectively. The analysis of rat brain samples exposed to PAH mixture (0.01-1 mg/kg, 28 days, ip) demonstrated that this method allowed the detection of 16 PAHs and 28 OH-PAHs out of the 69 analytes investigated. Mean concentrations of PAHs in animal brain samples exposed to 1 mg/kg of PAH mixture ranged from 3.0 ± 2 pg/mg for benzo[b]fluoranthene to 146 ± 29 pg/mg for phenanthrene. Concomitantly, mean concentrations of OH-PAHs ranged from 0.49 ± 0.4 to 26.5 ± 23 pg/mg for 2-OH-chrysene and 1-OH-pyrene respectively. This study proves, for the first time, the bioavailability of most of the PAHs and OH-PAHs in mammalian brain tissue and should provide an important new tool for future neurotoxicological studies.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Analytical Human Biomonitoring-CRP-Santé, Université du Luxembourg, Campus Limpertsberg, 162A Avenue de la Faiencerie, Luxembourg. nathalie.grova@lns.etat.lu
authors.forename: Nathalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grova
authors.forename: Guillaume
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Salquèbre
authors.forename: Henri
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schroeder
authors.forename: Brice M R
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Appenzeller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001682:Biological Availability; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006900:Hydroxylation; D008297:Male; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D051381:Rats; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons