Liquid Chromatography-Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry and Capillary Electrophoresis-Mass Spectrometry as ground-breaking approaches to expand the boundaries of metabolomics in chemical risk assessment

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Nowadays, there is a growing concern in the research community and civil society in general about the effects of chemical exposure on human health. From a public health perspective, it is of major interest to establish the risks associated with chemicals for the enforcement of health prevention strategies. In this sense, one of the current priorities of chemical risk assessment is to understand the effects and modes of action (MoA) of endocrine disruptor compounds (EDCs) such as bisphenol A (BPA) and polychlorinated bisphenyls (PCBs). Within this framework, metabolomics has emerged as a novel strategy for the discovery of effect biomarkers that can provide the connection between exposures to EDCs and chronic diseases.
HAZARDOmics aims to enhance the knowledge about the risks arising from exposures to low doses of BPA and to a ‘cocktail’ of PCBs following an innovative metabolomics approach. The metabolic profiling of blood serum samples will be investigated from a broad analytical perspective in order to obtain the most complete information of metabolic fingerprint and, consequently, to increase the possibility of identifying effect biomarkers. Liquid chromatography (LC)-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS) involving Reverse Phase Liquid Chromatography (RP-LC) and Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography (HILIC) will be employed as traditional metabolomics strategy in risk assessment. On the other hand, the boundaries of this approach will be extended by the application of two additional techniques. For the first time, Ion Mobility Spectrometry (IM) integrated in a LC-HRMS workflow will be evaluated as a ground-breaking technology for metabolomics intended to risk assessment purposes. Moreover, Capillary Electrophoresis (CE)-HRMS will be implemented as complementary technique to LC-HRMS since both involve different separation mechanisms.