Applications of in vivo SPME based on mass spectrometry for environmental pollutants analysis and non-target metabolomics: A review

Abstract

In vivo analysis of environmental organic pollutants and endogenous metabolites has great impacts on understanding their environmental behavior and exposure risks. This calls for the development of convenient and reliable analytical methods with either high specificity or wide coverage of target compounds in complex matrixes. Different from traditional solvent extraction, solid-phase microextraction (SPME) has emerged as an integrated sample preparation technique by combining sampling, extraction, and cleanup into one step, which exerts great potential on in vivo sampling due to its high sensitivity and low invasiveness. In this view, the design principles of SPME fibers for in vivo sampling, novel SPME fibers, and devices over recent years are summarized for the guidance of SPME fiber design. The applications of in vivo SPME on monitoring uptake, translocation, and degradation of environmental organic pollutants in organisms, as well as non-target metabolomics in environmental toxicology and clinical analysis based on mass spectrometry, are described. SPME fiber directly coupled with mass spectrometry for in vivo analysis has been introduced. The practical limitations and prospects of further research are also discussed. We conceive that in vivo SPME will promote the development of environmental analysis and toxicity assessment in a high-efficiency and high-throughput manner