Detection and quantification of fatty acid ethyl esters in meconium by headspace-solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

• Published in: Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences Vol. 877; no. 1; pp. 8 - 12
• Main Authors: Hutson, J.R., Aleksa, K., Pragst, F., Koren, G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 2009; Elsevier
• Subjects: Analysis; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Biological and medical sciences; Biomarker; Esters; Fatty acid ethyl esters; Fatty Acids - analysis; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gas chromatography; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - methods; General pharmacology; Headspace-solid-phase microextraction; Humans; Meconium; Meconium - chemistry; Medical sciences; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Reference Standards; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Meconium; Gas chromatography; Fatty acid ethyl esters; Headspace-solid-phase microextraction; Biomarker; Solid phase microextraction; Biological marker; Headspace; Detection; Mass spectrometry; Quantitative analysis; Chemical enrichment
• ISSN: 1570-0232; 1873-376X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jchromb.2008.10.056

Meconium fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) are currently used as biomarkers to detect heavy prenatal alcohol exposure. We introduce a novel technique to quantify FAEEs in meconium using headspace-solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). This method improves on previous approaches by decreasing sample preparation time, eliminating the need for organic solvents, and reducing the required sample size. Using 50 mg of meconium, the detection limits of FAEEs ranged from 0.05 to 0.16 nmol/g and had good reproducibility making it ideal for routine analysis of clinical samples.