Institut de Recerca en Nutrició i Seguretat Alimentària (INSA·UB)

Prenatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants and sex-specific neonatal outcomes in the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort.

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 16:32:32 GMT

Prenatal exposure to persistent organic pollutants and sex-specific neonatal outcomes in the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort. De Saeger, Sarah; Raes, Jeroen; Nawrot, Tim S.; Vanhaecke, Lynn; Covaci, Adrian; Cseresznye, Adam; Ouden, Fatima den; Engelen, Liesa; Maris, Elias; Ait Bamai, Yu; Paepe, Ellen De; Poma, Giulia; Derrien, Muriel; Vich Vila, Arnau; Hemeryck, Lieselot Y.; Peró Gascón, Roger Early-life exposure to environmental contaminants, such as endocrine disrupting persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), is linked to adverse neonatal outcomes. However, the sex-specific effects of POP mixtures and the potential mediating roles of biological pathways, such as inflammation, remain insufficiently understood. This study aimed to investigate these aspects within the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort. The study population consisted of newborns (n = 402) from the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort, of which cord plasma levels of POPs were quantified using GC-ECNI/MS. Neonatal birth outcomes were derived from anthropometric measurements obtained at birth and via questionnaires completed postpartum. Among the 28 targeted POPs, nine were found in more than 50 % of the samples with CB 170, 180 and 153 detected in over 98 % of them. In single-pollutant models, several PCBs were inversely associated with ponderal index, while CB 118 was positively associated with head circumference in males (FDR-adjusted p < 0.05). Weighted Quantile Sum (WQS) regression revealed that in males, the POP mixture was inversely associated with birth weight (β = −141.21, p < 0.05) and ponderal index (β = −0.11, p < 0.01) and positively associated with head circumference (β = 0.53, p < 0.01) and the odds of preterm birth (OR = 2.91, p < 0.05). Conversely, among females, the POP mixture was associated with reduced odds of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) (OR = 0.21, p < 0.05) and below normal APGAR scores (OR = 0.39, p < 0.05). Mediation analysis indicated that the association between p,p'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (p,p'-DDE) and reduced birth weight/length was significantly mediated by eosinophil levels.

Development and validation of an LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous detection of urinary inflammatory biomarkers in a Flemish birth cohort

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:23:30 GMT

Development and validation of an LC-MS/MS method for the simultaneous detection of urinary inflammatory biomarkers in a Flemish birth cohort Raes, Jeroen; Vanhaecke, Lynn; Nawrot, Tim S.; Covaci, Adrian; Ouden, Fatima den; Cseresznye, Adam; Engelen, Liesa; Maris, Elias; Paepe, Ellen De; Poma, Giulia; Proost, Sebastian; Vich Vila, Arnau; Hemeryck, Lieselot Y.; Peró Gascón, Roger; De Saeger, Sarah Chronic inflammation is a significant contributor to various diseases but its assessment via blood sampling presents challenges, particularly in children. The evaluation of urinary biomarkers, including 3-bromotyrosine (Bty), 3-chlorotyrosine (Cty) and leukotriene E4 (LTE4), offers a non-invasive alternative. This study presents the optimization and validation of a sensitive liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method for the simultaneous quantification of Bty, Cty and LTE4 in urine. Under optimized conditions, sample preparation was based on SPE using Oasis MAX cartridges, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. Method performance was validated using the ICH 10 guidelines, resulting in satisfactory results for all analytes in terms of recovery, linearity, limits of quantification, precision and accuracy. Recovery rates ranged from 82% to 97%, while matrix effects were observed within the range of -11% to 26%. Linear range spanned from 0.08 to 20 ng/mL for the three analytes. Application to 332 urine samples from the ENVIRONAGE birth cohort (Belgium), comprising of children aged 4–11 years, revealed detection frequencies of 18% for LTE4, 19% for Cty and 50% for Bty. Notably, creatinine-corrected Cty and LTE4 exhibited statistically significant Spearman correlations with established systemic inflammation markers. Specifically, Cty was positively correlated with absolute monocyte count (ρ = 0.53, p < 0.05), while LTE4 showed a positive correlation with relative eosinophil levels (ρ = 0.46, p < 0.05) and a negative correlation with the relative neutrophil levels (ρ = -0.56, p < 0.01). These results highlight the validated method as a valuable tool for investigating distinct inflammatory pathways in epidemiological settings and clinical research.

Fingerprinting of quinoa grain protein extracts by liquid chromatography with spectrophotometric detection for chemometrics discrimination

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 12:24:13 GMT

Fingerprinting of quinoa grain protein extracts by liquid chromatography with spectrophotometric detection for chemometrics discrimination Galindo Luján, Rocío del Pilar; Caballero-Alcázar, Nil; Pont Villanueva, Laura; Sanz Nebot, María Victoria; Benavente Moreno, Fernando J. (Julián) Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) grain is gaining great popularity worldwide because it is a rich source of nutrients, bioactive compounds, complete essential amino acids, and high-quality proteins. The demand for quinoa-based products is on the rise, which makes them prone to adulteration with less expensive cereals. In this study, we described a rapid and simple procedure for fingerprinting of quinoa grain protein extracts based on the combination of liquid chromatography with ultraviolet absorption diode array detection (LC-UV-DAD) and chemometrics. First, we developed a novel LC-UV-DAD method to obtain distinctive multiwavelength chromatographic profiles of protein extracts from various commercial quinoa grains, which encompass different quinoa varieties sold as black, red, white (from Peru), and royal (white from Bolivia). Then, the components of the LC-UV-DAD fingerprints were deconvoluted by multivariate curve resolution alternating least squares (MCRALS), and principal component analysis (PCA) followed by partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) were applied to efficiently discriminate the commercial quinoa grains according to their differential composition. The chemometrics-assisted LC-UV-DAD fingerprinting methodology demonstrated its potential to rapidly and reliably discriminate quinoa grains according to the differential composition of their protein extracts and it may be applied in food quality and food fraud control.

Characterization of sparkling wine based on polyphenolic profiling by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 18:50:53 GMT

Characterization of sparkling wine based on polyphenolic profiling by liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry Oliva, Eleonora; Mir-Cerdà, Aina; Sergi, Manuel; Sentellas, Sonia; Saurina, Javier Polyphenols are phytochemicals naturally present in wines that arouse much interest in the scientific community due to their healthy properties. In addition, their role as descriptors of various wine qualities, such as the geographical origin or the grape variety, cannot be underestimated. Here, Pinot Noir and Xarel·lo monovarietal samples belonging to the sparkling wine production process have been studied, corresponding to base wines from a first alcoholic fermentation (plus malolactic in some cases), base wines resulting from tartaric stabilization, and sparkling wines from a second alcoholic fermentation aged for 3 and 7 months. One of the objectives of this paper is to obtain valuable chemical and oenological information by processing a huge amount of data with suitable chemometric methods. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with ultraviolet spectroscopy and tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-UV-MS/MS) has been used for the determination of polyphenols in wines and related samples. The method relies on reversed-phase mode and further detection by multiple reaction monitoring. Concentrations of relevant phenolic compounds have been determined, and the resulting compositional data have been used for characterization purposes. Exploratory studies by principal component analysis have shown that samples can be discriminated according to varietal and quality issues. Further classification models have been established to assign unknown samples to their corresponding classes. For this purpose, a sequential classification tree has been designed involving both variety and quality classes, and an excellent classification rate has been achieved.