Measurement of bisphenol A levels in human blood serum and ascitic fluid by HPLC using a fluorescent labeling reagent

A sensitive column-switching HPLC method with fluorescence detection was developed for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in human blood serum and ascitic fluid samples. 4-(4,5-Diphenyl-1H-imidazol-2-yl)benzoyl chloride (DIB-Cl) was used as the fluorescent label, and the excess reagent was removed by a column-switching technique. Liquid-liquid extraction with chloroform was used for the pretreatment of serum and ascitic fluid samples. BPA in both the samples could be determined in the concentration range of 0.1-7.0 ppb with the detection limit of 0.04 ppb at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The recoveries of BPA spiked to serum and ascitic fluid were 78.6 and 77.7%, respectively. The mean concentrations of BPA (n = 9) in maternal and umbilical cord blood sera obtained from healthy pregnant women were 0.46 +/- 0.20 and 0.62 +/- 0.13 ppb, respectively. BPA levels (n = 21) in blood sera and ascitic fluid obtained from the patients with sterility were also determined to be 0.46 +/- 0.20 and 0.56 +/- 0.19 ppb, respectively. Relationships of BPA concentrations were observed between maternal and umbilical cord blood serum samples (r = 0.626), as well as blood serum and ascitic fluid samples (r = 0.785). (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.