Blood and breath levels of selected volatile organic compounds in healthy volunteers

Abstract

Gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS) was used to identify and quantify volatile organic compounds in the blood and breath of healthy individuals. Blood and breath volatiles were pre-concentrated using headspace solid phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME) and needle trap devices (NTDs), respectively. The study involved a group of 28 healthy test subjects and resulted in the quantification of a total of 74 compounds in both types of samples. The concentrations of the species under study varied between 0.01 and 6700 nmol L(-1) in blood and between 0.02 and 2500 ppb in exhaled air. Limits of detection (LOD) ranged from 0.01 to 270 nmol L(-1) for blood compounds and from 0.01 to 0.7 ppb for breath species. Relative standard deviations for both measurement regimes varied from 1.5 to 14%. The predominant chemical classes among the compounds quantified were hydrocarbons (24), ketones (10), terpenes (8), heterocyclic compounds (7) and aromatic compounds (7). Twelve analytes were found to be highly present in both blood and exhaled air (with incidence rates higher than 80%) and for 32 species significant differences (Wilcoxon signed-rank test) between room air and exhaled breath were observed. By comparing blood, room air and breath levels in parallel, a tentative classification of volatiles into endogenous and exogenous compounds can be achieved.

Exhaled breath metabolomics as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for acute respiratory distress syndrome

“…The latter may not be as dependent on oxygen tension as the former, as suggested by our results. Of note, octane is also present in the breath of healthy individuals, but at very low concentrations [44], and increases due to smoking [45], but this did not influence the diagnostic accuracy in our study.…”

Assessment of the exhalation kinetics of volatile cancer biomarkers based on their physicochemical properties

“…This means that different compounds may be stored (or exist in equilibrium) in different compartments of the body. To gain a more comprehensive understanding on the cancer-related VOCs, a combined information on appearance and concentration of these VOCs in breath and blood [1], or in breath and urine or saliva, is critical [138]. Further information can be achieved by investigating exhaled breath and resected tumor tissue from the same patient [11,30].…”

“…Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been found in breath, blood [1], headspace of cancer cells [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10], and in headspace of resected cancer tissues [11]. Exhaled breath, which may change its chemical signature depending on the physiological or pathophysiological state of disease [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24], is considered as one of the most fascinating body fluids/sources.…”

Exhaled Breath Analysis of Smokers Using CMV-GC/MS

“…In this research, 11 compounds were found to be consistent with literature reporting exhaled breath profiles of smokers. Those compounds of the current study identified in smokers are as follows: propanoic acid [91], propylene glycol [33], α-pinene [91,92], β-pinene [91,92], octanal [91], eucalyptol [91,92], undecane [91,92], menthone [92], nicotine [8,33,35,54], pentadecane [9] and butylated hydroxytoluene [9]. In this research, 17 compounds were reported in literature as being consistent with exhaled breath profiles of both smokers and nonsmokers.…”