Abstract
Analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human breath can provide information about the current physiological state of an individual, such as clinical conditions and exposure to exogenous pollutants. The blood-borne VOCs present in exhaled breath offer the possibility of exploring physiological and pathological processes in a noninvasive way. However, the field of exhaled breath analysis is still in its infancy. We undertook this study in order to define interindividual variation and common compounds in breath VOCs of 48 young human volunteers. Alveolar breath samples were analyzed by automated thermal desorption, gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (FID) and electron capture detector (ECD) using SUPELCO standards with 66 compounds. Predominant compounds in the alveolar breath of analyzed subjects are ethylbenzene, 1-ethyl-4-methylbenzene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (over 50% of the subjects). Isopropyl alcohol, propylene, acetone, ethanol were found as well. We detected substituted compounds in exhaled breath.
Highlights
Our exhaled breath is a complex combination of thousands of molecules that constitute a breath print that carries information about us, and certain information about our state of health (Martinez-Lozano Sinues et al, 2013)
Alveolar breath samples were analyzed by automated thermal desorption, gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (FID) and electron capture detector (ECD) using SUPELCO standards with 66 compounds
Lavoisier and Laplace in 1784 showed that respiration consumes oxygen and eliminates carbon dioxide, Nebelthau in the mid 1800s showed that diabetics exhale breath acetone, and Anstie in 1874 isolated ethanol from breath (Dweik et al, 2008; Duveen et al, 1955)
Summary
Our exhaled breath is a complex combination of thousands of molecules that constitute a breath print that carries information about us (similar to a fingerprint), and certain information about our state of health (similar to blood and urine) (Martinez-Lozano Sinues et al, 2013). Lavoisier and Laplace in 1784 showed that respiration consumes oxygen and eliminates carbon dioxide, Nebelthau in the mid 1800s showed that diabetics exhale breath acetone, and Anstie in 1874 isolated ethanol from breath (which is the basis of breath alcohol testing today) (Dweik et al, 2008; Duveen et al, 1955). A major breakthrough in the scientific study of breath started in the 1970s when Linus Pauling demonstrated that there is more to exhaled breath than the classic gasses of nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor. Based on gas liquid partition chromatography Linus Pauling reported the presence of 250 substances in exhaled breath (Pauling et al, 1971). With modern mass spectrometry and gas chromatography
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