Silicone Wristband Spray Ionization Mass Spectrometry for Combined Exposome and Metabolome Profiling

Abstract

Wearing a silicone wristband exposes the internal surface of the wristband to glucose, lipids, and metabolites (metabolome) found in sweat and the external surface to occupational and environmental factors that could impact health found in the air (exposome). We use silicone wristband electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (SWESI‐MS) to monitor these species. A 20‐μL drop of a (1 : 1, v/v) water:methanol solution is sufficient to extract abundant metabolites and contacting chemicals derived from ingestion of drink, smoke, diet, drug, and air pollution exposure. A wide coverage of species is successfully detected and identified from a worn wristband including caffeine, glucose, nicotine, reserpine, lactate, phosphocreatinine, oleic acid, and urea. The signal from a triangular wristband surface triggered by applying a voltage of 5 kV to form a spray remains stable for at least 2 minutes. The response is linear from 10 pM to 100 μM. The SWESI‐MS method offers the advantages of onsite sampling, no preprocessing, simple testing, and automatic high‐dimensional data searching. It can be used for simultaneously monitoring hazardous chemical contamination and abnormal expression of sweat‐secreted metabolites that are indicative of some physiological condition.

Development of Nontargeted Workflow of Occupational Exposure by Infrared Ion Spectroscopy and Silicone Wristbands’ Passive Sampling

“…Our previous work demonstrates the ability to directly introduce sample from a silicone wristband to the inlet of a mass spectrometer. 19 The goals of this study are as follows: (1) demonstrate innovative analytical methodology, (2) identify instrumentation for tentative identification, and (3) share the nontargeted analytical workflow for occupational exposure. Triphenyl phosphate is commonly used as a surrogate organophosphate for occupational exposure for military and civilian personnel working in proximity to aircraft maintenance and aviation fuel.…”

“…Previous work highlights a broad range of confirmed identifications (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, halogenated flame retardants, organophosphate esters, pesticides, phthalates, polychlorinated biphenyls) that have leveraged standards for nontargeted workflows that include gas and liquid chromatography. − Here, we explore an alternative methodology that uses high-resolution and ion-trap mass spectrometry for fingerprinting mass selected species for a nontarget workflow of exposure to organophosphates using silicone wristbands as collection media. Our previous work demonstrates the ability to directly introduce sample from a silicone wristband to the inlet of a mass spectrometer …”