Development and Application of Molecularly Imprinted Polymers for the Selective Extraction of Chlordecone from Bovine Serum

Gwenaëlle Lavison-Bompard,Pauline Bosman,Marine Lambert,Audrey Combès,Valérie Pichon

doi:10.3390/separations8120237

Abstract

The widespread use of chlordecone (CLD), an organochlorine pesticide, until the 1990s to protect banana crops in the French West Indies led to significant pollution of water and soil and, subsequently, of bovine intended for human consumption. Carcasses are submitted to official controls based on perirenal fat CLD determination. In order to allow for pre-slaughter controls, a selective analytical method based on a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) associated to the LC/MS-MS method was developed to determine the level of CLD in bovine serum that can be collected before slaughter. Different synthesis conditions were therefore assayed by varying the nature of the monomer and of the porogen, and the most promising MIP in terms of selective retention for CLD (extraction recovery close to 100%) was completely characterized by solid-phase extraction (repeatability of the extraction procedure, of the synthesis, and of the cartridge filling) in pure medium. The capacity of the MIP was determined at 0.13 µmol g−1 of MIP. After application of a spiked bovine serum sample on the MIP, the selective retention was maintained (87 and 21%, respectively, on the MIP and on the corresponding non-imprinted polymer). Moreover, extraction on the MIP led to a cleaner extract compared to those issued from a conventional C18 sorbent.

Highlights

Chlordecone (CLD) is a non-aromatic organochlorine insecticide widely used between1972 and 1993 in the French West Indies to protect banana plantations from black weevil [1].CLD is known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reprotoxic and is suspected of being an endocrine disrupter [2,3,4]
In all the previously cited studies related to the development of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for organochloride, the targeted compound was used as the template molecule for the synthesis
Our group demonstrated that a slight release of the template molecule could occur (

Summary

Introduction

Chlordecone (CLD) is a non-aromatic organochlorine insecticide widely used between1972 and 1993 in the French West Indies to protect banana plantations from black weevil [1].CLD is known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reprotoxic and is suspected of being an endocrine disrupter [2,3,4]. Even after 30 years, all environmental compartments in Martinique and Guadeloupe are largely contaminated, leading to the indirect contamination of locally reared animals (chickens, pigs, goats, and cattle) through unintentional soil ingestion [5]. It can be enzymatically metabolized in the livers of some mammals in chlordecol (CLD-OH) and eliminated through excretion in urine [1,6]. Regarding food safety and products of animal origin, market production is submitted to official controls: carcasses with a CLD concentration above 27 μg kg−1 (mitigation measure) in perirenal fat are guaranteed, in respect to the maximum reference level (MRL of 20 μg kg−1 [7]), to be removed from sale. Since correlations have been established between the CLD’s concentration in perirenal fat and muscle (most consumed parts) or offals and serum [6,8], the question of pre-slaughter control of animals by monitoring

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Conclusion