Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan.
Department of Neurology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 704, Taiwan.
Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2024 Oct 1;284:116955. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116955. Epub 2024 Aug 29.
Exposure to environmental pollutants or contaminants is correlated with detrimental effects on human health, such as neurodegenerative diseases. Adopting hair as a biological matrix for biomonitoring is a significant innovation, since it can reflect the long-term chemical exposome, spanning months to years. However, only a limited number of studies have developed analytical strategies for profiling the chemical exposome in this heterogeneous biological matrix. In this study, a systematic investigation of the chemical extraction procedure from human hair was conducted, using a design of experiments and a high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS)-based suspect screening approach. The PlackettBurman (PB) design was applied to identify the significant variables influencing the number of detected features. Then, a central composite design was implemented to optimize the levels of each identified significant variable. Under the optimal conditions-15-minute pulverization, 25 mg of hair weight, 40 min of sonication, and a sonication temperature of 35 °C-approximately 32,000 and 15,000 aligned features were detected in positive and negative ion modes, respectively. This optimized analytical procedure was applied to hair samples from patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and individuals with normal cognitive function. Overall, 307 chemicals were identified using the suspect screening approach, with 37 chemicals differentiating patients with AD from controls. This study not only optimized an analytical procedure for characterizing the long-term chemical exposome in human hair but also explored the associations between AD and environmental factors.
暴露于环境污染物或污染物与人类健康的有害影响有关，例如神经退行性疾病。将头发作为生物基质进行生物监测是一项重大创新，因为它可以反映长期的化学暴露组，跨越数月至数年。然而，只有少数研究开发了分析策略来描绘这种异质生物基质中的化学暴露组。在这项研究中，使用实验设计和基于高分辨率质谱（HRMS）的可疑筛选方法对人体头发的化学提取程序进行了系统研究。PlackettBurman（PB）设计用于确定影响检测特征数量的显著变量。然后，实施了中心复合设计以优化每个确定的显著变量的水平。在最佳条件下-15 分钟粉碎、25mg 头发重量、40min 超声处理和 35°C 的超声处理温度下，在正离子模式和负离子模式下分别检测到约 32,000 和 15,000 个对齐特征。该优化的分析程序应用于阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者和认知功能正常的个体的头发样本。总体而言，使用可疑筛选方法鉴定了 307 种化学物质，其中 37 种化学物质将 AD 患者与对照组区分开来。这项研究不仅优化了用于描述人类头发中长期化学暴露组的分析程序，还探讨了 AD 与环境因素之间的关系。
