Measurement of bisphenol A levels in human blood serum and ascitic fluid by HPLC using a fluorescent labeling reagent

Abstract

A sensitive column-switching HPLC method with fluorescence detection was developed for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in human blood serum and ascitic fluid samples. 4-(4,5-Diphenyl-1 H-imidazol-2-yl)benzoyl chloride (DIB-Cl) was used as the fluorescent label, and the excess reagent was removed by a column-switching technique. Liquid–liquid extraction with chloroform was used for the pretreatment of serum and ascitic fluid samples. BPA in both the samples could be determined in the concentration range of 0.1–7.0 ppb with the detection limit of 0.04 ppb at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The recoveries of BPA spiked to serum and ascitic fluid were 78.6 and 77.7%, respectively. The mean concentrations of BPA ( n=9) in maternal and umbilical cord blood sera obtained from healthy pregnant women were 0.46±0.20 and 0.62±0.13 ppb, respectively. BPA levels ( n=21) in blood sera and ascitic fluid obtained from the patients with sterility were also determined to be 0.46±0.20 and 0.56±0.19 ppb, respectively. Relationships of BPA concentrations were observed between maternal and umbilical cord blood serum samples ( r=0.626), as well as blood serum and ascitic fluid samples ( r=0.785).