Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for screening dioxin soil contamination by uncontrolled combustion during informal recycling in slums.

Uncontrolled combustion due to garbage recycling is a widespread activity among slum dwellers in distressed economy countries and has been indicated as a major source of dioxin contamination. However, because of the high cost and complexity of gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS) analysis, the magnitude of the problem remains largely unknown. The present study describes a first approach toward the use of a dioxin antibody-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as the basis for a sustainable, simple, and low-cost monitoring program to assess the toxicological impact of uncontrolled combustion in slums. A panel of 16 samples was analyzed by GC-HRMS and ELISA on split extracts. Close to 20% of the analyzed samples showed dioxin concentrations up to almost twice the guidance level for residential soil in several countries, pointing out the need for performing a large-scale monitoring program. Despite the potential for variations in dioxin congener distribution due to the mixed nature of the incinerated material, there was a good correlation between the toxic equivalents as determined by GC-HRMS and ELISA. Furthermore, an interlaboratory ELISA validation showed that the capacity to perform the dioxin ELISA was successfully transferred between laboratories. It was concluded that the ELISA method performed very well as a screening tool to prioritize samples for instrumental analysis, which allows cutting down costs significantly.

Streamlined combustion gas measurements for improved national dioxin inventories.

The analysis of PCDD/Fs requires advanced analytical instruments and is a complex, labor intensive process that consumes large quantities of high-purity solvents. It is therefore very expensive and thus problematic--or even impossible--for developing countries to afford to establish reliable PCDD/F source inventories in support of global and national emission reduction strategies. Low-cost reliable alternatives are needed to improve this situation. Therefore, a streamlined procedure for flue gas sampling and analysis has been developed and evaluated that utilizes a user-friendly polyurethane foam plug (PUFP) sampling technique. The collected samples are then shipped to a central laboratory for analysis where they are processed using a cost-efficient pressurized liquid extraction procedure with in-cell carbon cleanup (PLE-C) prior to analysis by gas chromatography--high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS). The PLE-C technique has previously been validated for a range of matrices, and, in the present study, has been further improved by introducing an extraction cell coupling cartridge. The entire procedure was evaluated using three sets of samples: two from a laboratory-scale incinerator and one from a full-scale incinerator. The samples were expected to differ in PCDD/F levels and homologue patterns. Each sample was split and analyzed in parallel by both PLE-C and a reference procedure (Soxhlet extraction followed by a traditional multistep cleanup procedure, Sox-T). The results of analysis by PLE-C compared well with those from analysis by Sox-T. The difference between toxic equivalent (TEQ) values obtained using the PLE-C and reference technique for 11 PUFP samples ranged from -10% to +44% and the two techniques also yielded very similar PCDD/F homologue profiles. A principal component analysis (PCA) of the data showed that both methods were able to discriminate among the three sets of samples, thereby demonstrating that the between method variability was less than the between-sample variability. In summary, the results indicate that PUFP sampling followed by PLE-C extraction and cleanup provides a fast, relatively cheap, and reliable method for analysis of PCDD/Fs in flue gas.

Rapid and cost-effective analysis of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans in soil, fly ash and sediment certified reference materials using pressurized liquid extraction with an integrated carbon trap.

Pressurized liquid extraction with an integrated carbon trap (PLE-C) has recently been developed for fast and efficient analysis of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in food and feed. The method has also been tested, but not verified, for use on more complex soil samples, such as soil, sediment and fly ash. Hence, the primary aim of this study was to verify that PLE-C can produce reliable data for PCDDs/PCDFs in various abiotic matrixes. A second aim was to find a replacement for the previously used AX21 active carbon that is currently not commercially available. The performance of the PLE-C was evaluated using both single congener concentrations and toxic equivalency potentials (TEQ-pot) of three (soil, sediment and fly ash) certified reference materials. The results clearly show that PLE-C can be used for abiotic samples and that a commercially available carbon (Norit SA 4PAH HF) can replace the AX-21 carbon in the carbon trap. The TEQ-pot values obtained for the soil and sediment samples were within the uncertainty limits of the corresponding certified values, as were the determinations of single congener concentrations. PLE-C therefore has great potential for determination of PCDDs/PCDFs in soil and sediment samples. The TEQ-pot result for the fly ash was slightly lower than the certified TEQ-pot value, but it is still within the uncertainty limits of the certified value. Out of the single congener concentrations all but four (out of 17) agreed well with the values. Hence, PLE-C may potentially be used also for fly ash--after slight modifications. The integrated PLE-C and cleanup procedure is less labour-intensive than traditional methods such as Soxhlet extraction followed by a multistep cleanup, and consumes smaller quantities of ultrapure solvents than the commonly used Power-Prep system. In addition, PLE-C is capable of larger sample throughputs than the conventional methods. Thus, PLE-C is a promising alternative to the currently used sample preparation procedures for dioxins in abiotic samples. [figure: see text] PLE with integraded carbon trap for rapid PCDD/Fs analysis.

Analysis of dioxins in contaminated soils with the calux and caflux bioassays, an immunoassay, and gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry.

The chemically activated luciferase expression assay, the chemically activated fluorescence expression assay, and the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are all bioanalytical methods that have been used for the detection and quantification of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). However, no comparisons of the results obtained by these three methods have been published analyzing identical replicates of purified sample extracts. Therefore, we have evaluated the performance of each of these methods for analyzing PCDD/Fs in aliquots of extracts from aged-contaminated soil samples and compared the results with those obtained by gas chromatography/high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC/HRMS). The quantitative performance was assessed and the effects of sample purification and data interpretation on the quality of the bioassay results were investigated. Results from the bioanalytical techniques were, in principle, not significantly different from each other or from the GC/HRMS data (p = 0.05). Furthermore, properly used, all of the bioanalytical techniques examined were found to be sufficiently sensitive, selective, and accurate to be used in connection with soil remediation activities when aiming at the remediation goal recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (i.e., <1000 pg toxic equivalency/g). However, a site-specific correction factor should be applied with the use of the ELISA to account for differences between the toxic equivalency factors and the ELISA cross-reactivities of the various PCDD/F congeners, which otherwise might significantly underestimate the PCDD/F content.

Rapid screening of dioxin-contaminated soil by accelerated solvent extraction/purification followed by immunochemical detection.

Since soils at industrial sites might be heavily contaminated with polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), there is a need for large-scale soil pollution surveys and, thus, for cost-efficient, high-throughput dioxin analyses. However, trace analysis of dioxins in complex matrices requires exhaustive extraction, extensive cleanup, and very sensitive detection methods. Traditionally, this has involved the use of Soxhlet extraction and multistep column cleanup, followed by gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry (GC/HRMS), but bioanalytical techniques may allow much more rapid, cost-effective screening. The study presented here explores the possibility of replacing the conventional method with a novel approach based on simultaneous accelerated solvent extraction (ASE) and purification, followed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Both the traditional and the novel cleanup and detection approaches were applied to contaminated soil samples, and the results were compared. ELISA and GC/HRMS results for Soxhlet-extracted samples were linearly correlated, although the ELISA method slightly underestimated the dioxin levels. To avoid an unacceptable rate of false-negative results, the use of a safety factor is recommended. It was also noted that the relative abundance of the PCDDs/PCDFs, evaluated by principal component analysis, had an impact on the ELISA performance. To minimize this effect, the results may be corrected for differences between the ELISA cross-reactivities and the corresponding toxic equivalency factor values. Finally, the GC/HRMS and ELISA results obtained following the two sample preparation methods agreed well; and the ELISA and GC/HRMS results for ASE extracts were strongly correlated (correlation coefficient, 0.90). Hence, the ASE procedure combined with ELISA analysis appears to be an efficient approach for high-throughput screening of PCDD-/PCDF-contaminated soil samples.