Dried blood spots for reliable biomonitoring of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)

Abstract Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling has gained attention in several scientific areas because of the low sampling burden. The study aimed to develop a method for the determination of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in DBS using a standardized blood volume. The DBS method using a simple methanol extraction followed by online solid phase extraction-ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry quantification was validated. Only 30 μL of blood is required. Based on the measurements of DBS dispersed areas from known blood volumes (20–70 μL), the blood volume on a 3 mm diameter DBS subsample was calculated to be 3.3 μL (median, n = 708 measurements, 59 adults). Strong correlations of PFAS concentrations between finger prick DBSs and venous whole blood samples (n = 57) were found ( rho 0.72–0.97, p