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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Food Animal Metabolism Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #339363
Research Project: Environmental Chemical Residues and Their Impact in the Food Supply

Location: Food Animal Metabolism Research

Title: Evaluation of a QuECHERS-like extraction approach for the determination of PBDEs in mussels by immuno-assay-based screening methods

Author
item ROMANELLI, SARA - University Of Florence
item BETTAZZI, FRANCESCA - University Of Florence
item MARTELLINI, TANIA - University Of Florence
item Shelver, Weilin
item CINCINELLI, ALESSANDRA - University Of Florence
item GALARINI, ROBERTA - University Of Florence
item PALCHETTI, ILARIA - University Of Florence

Submitted to: Talanta
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/11/2017
Publication Date: 8/1/2017
Citation: Romanelli, S., Bettazzi, F., Martellini, T., Shelver, W.L., Cincinelli, A., Galarini, R., Palchetti, I. 2017. Evaluation of a QuECHERS-like extraction approach for the determination of PBDEs in mussels by immuno-assay-based screening methods. Talanta. 170:540-545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2017.04.027.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.talanta.2017.04.027

Interpretive Summary: Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of fire retardants that have been used extensively in a wide variety of products. Because of their toxicity, persistence and hazardous effects on humans and environment, penta-BDE and octa-BDE have been banned from use and production in the European Union since 2004, while the use of deca-BDE in electronics and electrical applications has been banned since 2008. Despite these actions, PBDEs have been detected in the environmental and food matrices. In this paper, a rapid sample preparation method was optimized and used for PBDE determination in mussels using colorimetric as well as electrochemical immunoassays. Both immunoassays could discriminate between high levels representing a potential hazard to humans and essentially background levels.

Technical Abstract: A sample preparation method was evaluated for the determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in mussel samples, by using colorimetric and electrochemical immunoassay-based screening methods. A simple sample preparation in conjunction with a rapid screening method possesses the desired cost effective efficient analytical performance. Herein, a rapid procedure based on the quick, easy, cheap, rugged, effective, and safe (QuEChERS) extraction approach followed by solid phase purification was optimized for PBDE extraction from mussel samples. The detection limits for both the immunoassays, calculated as BDE-47 equivalent concentration, were 0.6 ng g-1 and 1.1 ng g-1, respectively. Real mussel samples, including a Certified Reference Material (CRM), were analyzed. The samples were investigated by colorimetric and electrochemical immunoassays as well as by GC-MS. In comparison to GC-MS results, 106 and 102 % relative accuracy were obtained for the colorimetric and electrochemical immunoassays, respectively. The proposed method could be useful for massive environmental campaigns, being able to rapidly detect possible polluted seafood samples.