A simple method for direct mercury analysis in dried blood spots (DBS) samples for human biomonitoring studies
González-Rubio et al.
The finding, in our words
A new method using a direct mercury analyser allows for precise total mercury measurement in dried blood spot samples while controlling for sample volume. This approach facilitates minimally invasive capillary blood collection, making it highly suitable for human biomonitoring studies in vulnerable populations such as children.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
This review of 2022 to 2023 work surveys dried blood microsampling for targeted and untargeted metabolomic and lipidomic profiling, finding the approach viable across paediatric research, therapeutic drug monitoring, metabolite screening, biomarker discovery, sports supervision, clinical disorder studies and forensic toxicology. The authors note that dried blood spots and VAMS dominate the published literature over other volumetric formats, and argue that harmonising analytical methods would accelerate wider clinical adoption of microsampling as an alternative to conventional plasma or serum profiling.
Lead can be measured accurately in dried blood spots by ICP-MS only when matrix-matched calibrators are used; aqueous calibrators perform poorly. The three methods evaluated showed strong agreement with whole blood analysis and offer a robust option for decentralised lead screening in children, though the recognised limitations of dried blood spots remain.
The analysis indicates that dried blood spots and volumetric absorptive microsampling enable minimally invasive monitoring of prohibited substances, with volumetric absorptive microsampling offering improved quantitative reliability over traditional dried spots.
This review establishes that microsampling across blood, saliva, urine and stool matrices offers validated workflows and regulatory recognition for human biomonitoring comparable to conventional methods. It finds that these decentralised approaches enhance participant acceptability and enable screening in remote or low-resource settings.
A validated two-step LC-MS/MS protocol can identify 91 prohibited doping agents from a single dried blood spot collected on either cellulose cards or volumetric absorptive microsampling devices. This demonstrates robust multi-analyte screening from capillary blood, supporting decentralised anti-doping programmes where venous sampling is impractical.