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Quantification and toxicokinetics of paraquat in mouse plasma and lung tissues by internal standard surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

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Abstract

Paraquat is a quaternary ammonium herbicide with an excellent herbicidal effect but is highly toxic to human and animals. Although prohibited by many countries, paraquat intoxication occurred occasionally and caused severe consequences. Rapid and accurate determination of paraquat concentration in intoxication samples is urgently needed in the clinic to promptly evaluate the prognosis of poisoning patients. Here we report an internal standard surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (IS-SERS) quantification method on paraquat in mouse plasma and lung tissues for the first time. One measurement per sample was fulfilled within 10 s via this IS-SERS method. Paraquat had good linearity in the range of 1 ~ 500 μg/L (plasma sample) and 1 ~ 100 μg/g (lung sample), with the LOD and LOQ of 0.5 μg/L and 0.1 μg/g (plasma sample), and 5 μg/L and 1 μg/g (lung sample), respectively. This IS-SERS method was validated according to the international guidelines and applied to a quantitative determination and the toxicokinetics on paraquat in mouse plasma and lung tissues. The results indicated that paraquat had a fast absorption rate and a slow elimination rate in mouse plasma and lung tissues. Paraquat was prone to accumulate in target organs after entering the blood. It also proved its good practical applicability in one clinical intoxication sample. Meanwhile, we unveiled an underestimation of free paraquat amount towards common biological sample pretreatment, a certain amount of paraquat bound to components with molecular weight less than 30 kDa in the plasma; we hope it could provide some interesting information for possible clinic treatment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr. Zhengsheng Mao in the Department of Forensic Sciences, School of Basic Medical Science, Nan**g Medical University, Jiangsu, China, for helpful experimental comparison.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFC1602600) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82072158).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Laboratory of Toxicant Analysis, Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Bei**g, China

    Luyuan Qin, Jianfeng Wu, Lei Guo & Jianwei **e

  2. Department of Emergency, Jiangsu Province Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nan**g Medical University, Nan**g, China

    **aomin Zhang, Hao Sun & **song Zhang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, and Bei**g Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Bei**g, China

    Wenpeng Zhang

  4. Poisoning Treatment Department, Department of Hematology, Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 8 Dong da Street, Fengtai District, Bei**g, 100071, China

    **aoxia Lu

Authors
  1. Luyuan Qin
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hao Sun or Lei Guo.

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Ethics approval

The animal experiment was approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Nan**g Medical University (Jiangsu, China) with a permit number: IACUC-1905044. A clinical intoxication plasma sample was obtained from the Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital, and the sample was provided with written informed consent and institutional review board and ethical approval (approval number: KY-2021-12-34-1).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Source of biological material

Male C57BL/6 J mice (8–9 weeks) were purchased from Model Animal Research Center of Nan**g University. A clinical intoxication plasma sample was provided by the Fifth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital.

Statement on animal welfare

All experiments were carried out in strict accordance with the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of Nan**g Medical University. Male C57BL/6 J mice (8–9 weeks) were kept in plastic cages with free access to water and standard diet. Mice were maintained in a temperature-controlled room (23 ± 2 °C) with a 12-h light–dark cycle and relative humidity of 50 ± 10%. They were acclimatized for at least 1 week prior to the experiment.

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Qin, L., Zhang, X., Wu, J. et al. Quantification and toxicokinetics of paraquat in mouse plasma and lung tissues by internal standard surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. Anal Bioanal Chem 414, 2371–2383 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-022-03875-1

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