Variation in Gas and Volatile Compound Emissions from Human Urine as It Ages, Measured by an Electronic Nose

The medical profession is becoming ever more interested in the use of gas-phase biomarkers for disease identification and monitoring. This is due in part to its rapid analysis time and low test cost, which makes it attractive for many different clinical arenas. One technology that is showing promise for analyzing these gas-phase biomarkers is the electronic nose—an instrument designed to replicate the biological olfactory system. Of the possible biological media available to “sniff”, urine is becoming ever more important as it is easy to collect and to store for batch testing. However, this raises the question of sample storage shelf-life, even at −80 °C. Here we investigated the effect of storage time (years) on stability and reproducibility of total gas/vapour emissions from urine samples. Urine samples from 87 patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus were collected over a four-year period and stored at −80 °C. These samples were then analyzed using FAIMS (field-asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry—a type of electronic nose). It was discovered that gas emissions (concentration and diversity) reduced over time. However, there was less variation in the initial nine months of storage with greater uniformity and stability of concentrations together with tighter clustering of the total number of chemicals released. This suggests that nine months could be considered a general guide to a sample shelf-life.