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A mass spectroscopic method for analysis of AHH-inducing and other polychlorinated biphenyl congeners and selected pesticides in fish

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Abstract

The 209 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners exhibit a wide range in toxicity to fish, birds, and mammals. This paper discusses the use of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry negative chemical ionization (GC/MS-NCI) to quantify congeners of highly suspected toxicity such as IUPAC #77 (3,3′,4,4′-tetrachlorobiphenyl) and #126 (3,3′,4,4′,5-pentachlorobiphenyl). GC/MS analysis time needed to produce the necessary resolution was reduced to 1 h per sample or standard, allowing an autosampler to inject 12 samples in 24 hours, plus 12 standards/QC samples. Identification and quantification of some 60+ congeners and several selected pesticides and estimation of total PCBs are also possible within the 1 h analysis. For congeners of high chlorination (penta through octa), the method exhibited excellent sensitivity, such that we could not locate a fish which exhibited PCB levels below our calibrated quantitation range. NCI was not as sensitive for mono through tri and for some tetrachlorinated PCB congeners, an exception being PCB #77, for which sensitivity was of the same order as for the more highly chlorinated biphenyls. Long term stability was excellent. Over a 6-mo period, results of replicate analyses for PCB congeners and pesticides in a composited sample of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) from Lake Michigan had a relative standard deviation of 12% of the mean. Over the same time period, mean recoveries for samples spiked at concentrations similar to those in Lake Michigan lake trout were 90–102%. Response was linear over a wide range of concentrations for each of the analyzed compounds. This method is now being used for routine analysis of PCB congeners and selected pesticides in our laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Fisheries Research Center—Great Lakes, 1451 Green Road, 48105, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    Larry J. Schmidt & Robert J. Hesselberg

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  1. Larry J. Schmidt
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  2. Robert J. Hesselberg
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Contribution 799 of the National Fisheries Research Center-Great Lakes, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1451 Green Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105.

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Schmidt, L.J., Hesselberg, R.J. A mass spectroscopic method for analysis of AHH-inducing and other polychlorinated biphenyl congeners and selected pesticides in fish. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 23, 37–44 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00225993

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00225993

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