Efficient analysis of metabolites of industrial additives in cerebrospinal fluids

Despite being protected by the blood–brain barrier and the blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier, cerebrospinal fluids can contain contaminants that trigger neurotoxic effects, yet there are few effective methods to analyze metabolites of industrial additives. Here, we established a fast and robust analytical methodology, based on ultra-high performance liquid chromatography interfaced with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry, to quantitatively determine concentrations of metabolites of synthetic antioxidants, organophosphate esters, and phthalate esters in human cerebrospinal fluids. The developed method exhibited highly sensitive and stable instrumental performance, satisfactory recoveries, minimal matrix effects, and trace level detection limits. We identified and quantified thirty industrial additive metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid samples, at 0.58–13 ng/mL total concentrations.