Impact of breath sample collection method and length of storage of breath samples in Tedlar bags on the level of selected volatiles assessed using gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS).
Barbora Czippelová, Slavomíra Nováková, Miroslava Šarlinová, Eva Baranovičová, Anna Urbanová, Zuzana Turianiková, Jana Čerňanová Krohová, Erika Halašová, Henrieta Škovierová
{"title":"Impact of breath sample collection method and length of storage of breath samples in Tedlar bags on the level of selected volatiles assessed using gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS).","authors":"Barbora Czippelová, Slavomíra Nováková, Miroslava Šarlinová, Eva Baranovičová, Anna Urbanová, Zuzana Turianiková, Jana Čerňanová Krohová, Erika Halašová, Henrieta Škovierová","doi":"10.1088/1752-7163/ad4736","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled air has attracted the interest of the scientific community because it provides the possibility of monitoring physiological and metabolic processes and non-invasive diagnostics of various diseases. However, this method remains underused in clinical practice as well as in research because of the lack of standardized procedures for the collection, storage and transport of breath samples, which would guarantee good reproducibility and comparability of results. The method of sampling, as well as the storage time of the breath samples in the polymer bags used for sample storage and transport, affect the composition and concentration of VOCs present in the breath samples. The aim of our study was to compare breath samples obtained using two methods with fully disposable equipment: a Haldane sampling tube intended for direct breath collection and breath samples exhaled into a transparent Tedlar bag. The second task was to monitor the stability of selected compounds of real breath samples stored in a Tedlar bag for 6 h. Gas chromatography coupled with ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) implemented in the BreathSpec<sup>®</sup>device was used to analyse exhaled breath. Our results showed a significant difference in the signal intensity of some volatiles when taking a breath sample with a Haldane tube and a Tedlar bag. Due to its endogenous origin, acetone levels were significantly higher when the Haldane tube sampler was used while elevated levels of 2-propanol and unidentified VOC (designated as VOC 3) in the Tedlar bag samples likely originated from contamination of the Tedlar bags. The VOC stability study revealed compound-specific signal intensity changes of the selected VOCs with storage time in the Tedlar bags, with some volatiles showing increasing signal intensity during storage in Tedlar bags. This limits the use of Tedlar bags only for very limited time and carefully selected purpose. Our results highlight the importance of careful design and implementation of experiments and clinical protocols to obtain relevant and reliable results.</p>","PeriodicalId":15306,"journal":{"name":"Journal of breath research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of breath research","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1088/1752-7163/ad4736","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMICAL RESEARCH METHODS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in exhaled air has attracted the interest of the scientific community because it provides the possibility of monitoring physiological and metabolic processes and non-invasive diagnostics of various diseases. However, this method remains underused in clinical practice as well as in research because of the lack of standardized procedures for the collection, storage and transport of breath samples, which would guarantee good reproducibility and comparability of results. The method of sampling, as well as the storage time of the breath samples in the polymer bags used for sample storage and transport, affect the composition and concentration of VOCs present in the breath samples. The aim of our study was to compare breath samples obtained using two methods with fully disposable equipment: a Haldane sampling tube intended for direct breath collection and breath samples exhaled into a transparent Tedlar bag. The second task was to monitor the stability of selected compounds of real breath samples stored in a Tedlar bag for 6 h. Gas chromatography coupled with ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) implemented in the BreathSpec®device was used to analyse exhaled breath. Our results showed a significant difference in the signal intensity of some volatiles when taking a breath sample with a Haldane tube and a Tedlar bag. Due to its endogenous origin, acetone levels were significantly higher when the Haldane tube sampler was used while elevated levels of 2-propanol and unidentified VOC (designated as VOC 3) in the Tedlar bag samples likely originated from contamination of the Tedlar bags. The VOC stability study revealed compound-specific signal intensity changes of the selected VOCs with storage time in the Tedlar bags, with some volatiles showing increasing signal intensity during storage in Tedlar bags. This limits the use of Tedlar bags only for very limited time and carefully selected purpose. Our results highlight the importance of careful design and implementation of experiments and clinical protocols to obtain relevant and reliable results.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Breath Research is dedicated to all aspects of scientific breath research. The traditional focus is on analysis of volatile compounds and aerosols in exhaled breath for the investigation of exogenous exposures, metabolism, toxicology, health status and the diagnosis of disease and breath odours. The journal also welcomes other breath-related topics.
Typical areas of interest include:
Big laboratory instrumentation: describing new state-of-the-art analytical instrumentation capable of performing high-resolution discovery and targeted breath research; exploiting complex technologies drawn from other areas of biochemistry and genetics for breath research.
Engineering solutions: developing new breath sampling technologies for condensate and aerosols, for chemical and optical sensors, for extraction and sample preparation methods, for automation and standardization, and for multiplex analyses to preserve the breath matrix and facilitating analytical throughput. Measure exhaled constituents (e.g. CO2, acetone, isoprene) as markers of human presence or mitigate such contaminants in enclosed environments.
Human and animal in vivo studies: decoding the ''breath exposome'', implementing exposure and intervention studies, performing cross-sectional and case-control research, assaying immune and inflammatory response, and testing mammalian host response to infections and exogenous exposures to develop information directly applicable to systems biology. Studying inhalation toxicology; inhaled breath as a source of internal dose; resultant blood, breath and urinary biomarkers linked to inhalation pathway.
Cellular and molecular level in vitro studies.
Clinical, pharmacological and forensic applications.
Mathematical, statistical and graphical data interpretation.