Tumoral and normal brain tissue extraction protocol for wide-scope screening of organic pollutants

Little is known about the presence of organic pollutants in human brain (and even less in brain tumors). In this regard, it is necessary to develop new analytical protocols capable of identifying a wide range of exogenous chemicals in this type of samples (by combining target, suspect and non-target strategies). These methodologies should be robust and simple. This is particularly challenging for solid samples, as reliable extraction and clean-up techniques should be combined to obtain an optimal result. Hence, the present study focuses on the development of an analytical methodology that allows the screening of a wide range of organic chemicals in brain and brain tumor samples. This protocol was based on a solid-liquid extraction based on bead beating, solid-phase extraction clean-up with multi-layer mixed-mode cartridges, reconstitution and LC—HRMS analysis. To evaluate the performance of the extraction methodology, a set of 66 chemicals (e.g., pharmaceuticals, biocides, or plasticizers, among others) with a wide range of physicochemical properties was employed. Quality control parameters (i.e., linear range, sensitivity, matrix effect (ME%), and recoveries (R%)) were calculated and satisfactory results were obtained for them (e.g., R% within 60–120% for 32 chemicals, or ME% higher than 50% (signal suppression) for 79% of the chemicals).