Determination of Chemical Mixtures in Environmental, Food, and Human Samples Using High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry-Based Suspect Screening Approaches

Chemical contaminants are widely dispersed in the environment
in
all its dimensions, posing significant public health problems. Comprehensive
knowledge of these stressors is a prerequisite for assessing the associated
risk and implementing public policy measures to reduce the level of
population exposure. Nontargeted suspect screening approaches broaden
the knowledge of the chemical human exposome. We developed and used
a suspect screening method based on large spectral libraries. Chemical
profiling was based on a combined LC– and GC–HRMS approach.
The methodology was applied to 16 samples spanning the environment,
food, and health continuum. Using a combination of matching and scoring
data, a total of 547 compounds were likely identified, from which
the chemical structure of 63 molecules was confirmed to the highest
level of certainty. Wastewater, and more generally environmental samples,
had the highest number of chemicals detected, while fish samples had
a lower number. Pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and personal care product-related
compounds were found to be the most common compounds in and between
the extracts, particularly in water and serum samples. Many natural
and endogenous compounds were consistently annotated in the samples
submitted for analysis, regardless of the compartment investigated.