# Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Michigan: A Novel High-Throughput Method with Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) Analysis of 42 PFAS Compounds in Human and Bovine Serum

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new, efficient method to detect and measure 42 PFAS compounds in human and bovine serum using LC-MS/MS, suitable for large-scale biomonitoring.

## Contribution

The paper presents a novel high-throughput LC-MS/MS method for quantifying 42 PFAS compounds in serum with improved accuracy and precision.

## Key findings

- The method achieved a total accuracy of >91% and imprecision of <11%, meeting and exceeding performance criteria.
- The method detected PFAS compounds at low ng L−1 levels with all analytes having a limit of quantitation below 25 ng L−1.
- The method showed limited matrix effects and no significant interference from bile acids at biologically relevant concentrations.

## Abstract

A novel method for the analysis of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in serum is presented here, utilizing a matrix-matched calibration curve, small sample size, high-throughput sample prep with a protein crash and filtration, resulting in a concentrated and purified sample, which is analyzed via liquid chromatography (LC) mass spectrometry (MS, LC-MS/MS). As part of the validation of this method, accuracy, precision, reportable range verification, sensitivity, carryover, recovery, specificity, interferences, maximum dilutions, and stability are presented. This method quantitates 42 PFAS compounds across a wide variety of compound classes and has limits of detection in the low ng L−1 range with all analytes having a limit of quantitation less than the first calibrator (25 ng L−1). Total method accuracy was >91%, exceeding the set performance criteria goal of ≥85%. Method imprecision was <11%, exceeding the set performance criteria goal of ≤15%. Method recovery averaged 85%. Limited and minimal matrix effects were seen. Interference from bile acids was found to be of no concern at biologically relevant concentrations for this method. This method has been successfully employed in biomonitoring studies for residents of Michigan over the past eight years.