2026 · Environmental monitoring and assessment · paywalled
Application of volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) for the simultaneous determination of cadmium and lead in blood
Gutknecht et al.
The finding, in our words
VAMS gave near‑quantitative recovery for cadmium and lead in human blood and correlated strongly with venous sampling, with pre‑cleaning improving correlation and lowering background lead, supporting its use for decentralised biomonitoring of these toxic elements.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
This study validated a method for measuring the alcohol biomarker phosphatidylethanol using two volumetric absorptive microsampling devices, finding that the Mitra device met all validation criteria and agreed with venous sampling. The Capitainer device was deemed suitable but showed reduced accuracy at higher concentrations, with a small proportional negative bias compared to venous results.
A VAMS method using Mitra devices for whole blood lead quantification showed no significant difference compared with the centre's routine method, supporting VAMS as a practical alternative for blood lead and other trace element analyses.
In whole blood spiked with 90 drugs, the VAMS method using the Neoteryx Mitra device confirmed 87 compounds with identification limits below 12.5 ng/mL for 82.2% of drugs and extraction yields of 80.6 to 108.7%. In 15 poisoned patients, 98% of plasma compounds were detected in VAMS with satisfactory concordance (R2 = 0.827), supporting its use for decentralised toxicology screening.
Capillary VAMS combined with direct mercury analysis demonstrated strong correlation with venous blood mercury concentrations in adult volunteers, with acceptable accuracy and precision above 1.0 µg/l. Storage in pre-cleaned glass vials following two hours of desiccator drying maintained analyte stability for at least four weeks.
A VAMS method for 24 mycotoxins was validated against FDA and European Commission guidelines, showing no haematocrit bias and acceptable stability for 21 days at room temperature. Comparison with liquid whole blood from 20 samples revealed no missed exposed cases and comparable levels of key mycotoxins, supporting VAMS as an alternative to venous sampling in resource-limited settings.