title: Storage stability of exhaled breath on Tenax TA.
abstract: Exhaled breath is coming to the forefront of non-invasive biomarker discovery efforts. Concentration of exhaled breath volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on thermal desorption (TD) tubes with subsequent analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) has dominated this field. As discovery experimentation increases in frequency, the need to evaluate the long-term storage stability of exhaled breath VOCs on thermal desorption adsorbent material is critical. To address this gap, exhaled breath was loaded on Tenax TA thermal desorption tubes and stored at various temperature conditions. 74 VOCs, 56 of which have been previously uncharacterized, were monitored using GC-MS over a period of 31 d. The results suggest that storage of exhaled breath at cold temperatures (4 °C) provides the most consistent retention of exhaled breath VOCs temporally. Samples were determined to be stable up to 14 d across storage conditions prior to gaining or losing 1-2 standard deviations in abundance. Through gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), certain chemical classes were found to be positively (acids) or negatively (sulfur-containing) enriched temporally. By means of field sample collections, the effect of storage and shipping was found to be similar to those studies preformed in the laboratory at 4 °C. Collectively this study not only provides recommendations for proper storage conditions and storage length, but also illustrates the use of GSEA to exhaled breath based GC-MS data.
authors.affiliation: UES Inc., Air Force Research Laboratory, 711th Human Performance Wing/RHXB, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433, USA. Author to whom any correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed. Air Force Research Laboratory, 711th Human Performance Wing, Human Biosignatures Branch, 2510 Fifth Street, Area B, Bldg. 840, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433, USA.
authors.forename: Sean W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Harshman
authors.forename: Nilan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mani
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Geier
authors.forename: Jae
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kwak
authors.forename: Phillip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Shepard
authors.forename: Maomian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Gregory L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Sudberry
authors.forename: Ryan S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mayes
authors.forename: Darrin K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Ott
authors.forename: Jennifer A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Claude C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Grigsby
mesh_terms: D001944:Breath Tests / Q000379:methods*; D045853:Exhalation; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans; D011108:Polymers / Q000032:analysis*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D013696:Temperature; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D011108:Polymers; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds; C010514:tenax