DETERMINATION OF PAHs IN LUNG TISSUE SAMPLES USING SPECIFIC CHROMATOGRAPHIC TECHNIQUES: METHOD DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION

Quantification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in lung tissue samples for the estimation of clinical impact was carried out. Methods and Materials: A high pressure liquid chromatography system (HPLC) with ultraviolet-visible diode array detector (DAD) and fluorescence (FLD) detection was used. An automated solvent extraction (ASE) procedure with sample clean-up was employed for the extraction of PAHs from the lung tissue samples. The chromatographic method allowed identification of a total number of 16 PAHs: naphtalene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, pyrene, benzo(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(b)fluoranthene, benzo(k)fluoranthene, benzo(ghi)perylene, and indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene using fluorescence detection, whereas acenaphtylene was identified using a diode array detector (DAD). Results: The linearity domain for the method was between 5 pg/µL and 400 pg/µL for each compound. The quantification limits were between 0.5 pg/µL and 20 pg/µL. Automated solvent extraction was used for obtaining recoveries between 82–120%.