Urinary metal and metalloid biomarker study of Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis using inductively coupled plasma orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract To obtain a better understanding as to whether concentration alterations of metals and metalloids in urine were related to Henoch-Schonlein purpura nephritis (HSPN), the profiles of as many as 29 elements in urine were compared among three groups, the Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP), HSPN and a healthy control group. To this end, a reliable method has been developed for the simultaneous quantification of multiple elements including Li, Be, B, Al, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sn, Sb, Cs, Ba, Tl, Pb and Bi in urine using inductively coupled plasma orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ICP-oa-TOF-MS). The process of sample pre-treatment used a direct 20-fold dilution method with centrifuged urine. The internal standard element used for quantification was 103 Rh, and 1,4-butanediol was chosen as a matrix matching reagent. The method detection limits of these 29 elements were in the range of 0.04–12 ng mL −1 . Results of statistical analysis revealed that the concentrations of 15 elements and the element homeostasis were significantly different among these three groups. Our study provides a potential method for HSPN metal and metalloid biomarker discovery.