EWCPS 2025 - 20th European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry
Lecture
07.03.2025
Development of Passive Sampling for Isotopic Analysis of Copper in Human Biofluids
SW

Dr. Stefan Wagner

Montanuniversität Leoben

Wagner, S. (Speaker)¹; Siebenbrunner, A.¹; Irrgeher, J.¹; Prohaska, T.¹
¹Montanuniversität Leoben
Vorschau
25 Min. Untertitel (CC)

Copper (Cu) isotope ratios (65Cu/63Cu) in human biofluids have emerged as potential biomarkers for disease conditions associated with impaired Cu metabolism. Multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) provides the precision required to detect and quantify the sub-permille differences in Cu isotope ratios between different biofluidic samples, but typically requires intensive sample pre-treatment to avoid isobaric interferences originating from the complex sample matrix (e.g., (40Ar23Na)+ on 63Cu+, (40Ar25Mg)+ on 65Cu+), all potentially inducing a bias of the true ratio. This contribution presents the development of a passive sampling method for Cu in human biofluids using the diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique followed by 65Cu/63Cu isotope ratio analysis by MC-ICP-MS. The method is based on a Cu-selective polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) binding layer (CU membrane, TrisKem) designed for Cu isolation, aiming at simultaneous Cu preconcentration and matrix separation already in the sampling step. Eccrine sweat was used as an exemplary human biofluid with promising application potential for non-invasive medical diagnostics, potentially overcoming the drawbacks of invasive blood sampling such as patient discomfort and risk of infection. Deployment of the CU membrane in synthetic sweat spiked with Cu and other trace elements (Fe, Ni, Zn, Cd, and Pb) at physiologically relevant concentrations showed effective Cu uptake (96 % ± 2 %, n = 6) and separation from all other elements, particularly Na. The Na/Cu ratio was reduced from >4000 in the synthetic sweat to <0.1 in the DGT eluate, effectively mitigating the (40Ar23Na)+ isobaric interference on 63Cu+. The methodological figures of merit including Cu recovery, selectivity, preconcentration, detection limits, and potential isotopic fractionation processes during DGT-based sampling and MC-ICP-MS measurement will be discussed in this presentation.

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