Proceeding of Veterinary and Animal Science Days 2017, 6th- 8th June, Milan, Italy 

HAF © 2013 

Vol. IV, No. 1s   ISSN: 2283-3927 

   

 

l 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keywords 

Eels, Perfluoroalkyl substances, 

LC-HRMS 

 

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR 

Maria Nobile 

maria.nobile1@unimi.it 

 

JOURNAL HOME PAGE 

riviste.unimi.it/index.php/haf 

Preliminary study about the  

detection of perfluoroalkyl substances  

in eel samples of Lake Garda by liquid 

chromatography tandem mass high 

resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). 

Maria Nobile1*, Sara Panseri1, Francesco Arioli1, Luca M. Chiesa1 

 

 

1 University of Milan, Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety, Italy  

 

Abstract 

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a large class of fluorinated aliphatic chemical of anthropogenic 

origin with high chemical stability even at high temperatures and in presence of alkalis, strong acids 

or oxidizing agents (Lau et al. 2004). All these characteristics make them no biodegradable and very 

persistent in the environment, associated with adverse health risks (Eriksen et al. 2010). Food, 

especially fish and other seafood, is considered the main source of exposure to PFASs (EFSA, 2012). In 

this preliminary study we developed and validated a sensitive, selective and specific method by LC-

HRMS Orbitrap to monitor the presence of 16 PFASs in eel (Anguilla Anguilla) samples. The clean-up 

of the lyophilized samples consisted of a previous extraction step with acetonitrile to precipitate also 

proteins, followed by a purification step through Oasis® WAX SPE (Weak Anionic Exchange Solid 

Phase Extraction) cartridges. The method applied to 45 farmed eel samples from Lake Garda showed 

the presence of several PFASs, up to 10 in the same eel, in the order of ng/g (Fig.1). The results 

provided a representative situation of the PFASs contamination level of the lake, lower than those of 

others European countries (Hoff et al. 2005, Kwadijk et al. 2010). 
 

 

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en


Proceeding of Veterinary and Animal Science Days 2017, 6th- 8th June, Milan, Italy 

HAF © 2013 

Vol. IV, No. 1s   ISSN: 2283-3927 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

Fig.1: Average concentrations (ng/g) of the PFASs detected in the 45 eel samples of Lake Garda. PFBA: perfluoro-n-butanoic 

acid; PFPeA: perfluoro-n-pentanoic acid; PFHpA: perfluoro-n-heptanoic acid; PFOA: perfluoro-n-octanoic acid; PFNA: 

perfluoro-n-nonanoic acid; PFOS: sodium perfluoro-1-octanesulfonate; PFDA: perfluoro-n-decanoic acid; PFUdA: perfluoro-n-

undecanoic acid; PFDoA: perfluoro-n-dodecanoic acid; PFTrDA: perfluoro-n-tridecanoic acid; PFTeDA: perfluoro-n-

tetradecanoic acid. 

 

 

References 

EFSA, 2012. Perfluoroalkylated substances in food: occurrence and dietary exposure. EFSA Journal. 10 (6):2743, 

1-55. 

Eriksen, K.T., Raaschou-Nielsenb, O., Sørensen, M., Roursgaard, M., Loft, S., Møller, P., 2010. Genotoxic potential 

of the perfluorinated chemicals PFOA, PFOS, PFBS, PFNA and PFHxA in human HepG2 cells. Mutation Research. 

700, 39–43. 

Hoff, P.T, Van Campenhout, K., Van de Vijver, K., Covaci, A., Bervoets, L., Moens, L., Huyskens, G., Goemans, G., 

Belpaire, C., Blust, R., De Coen, W., 2005. Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and organohalogen pollutants in liver of 

three freshwater fish species in Flanders (Belgium): relationships with biochemical and organismal effects. 

Environmental Pollution. 137, 324–333. 

Kwadijk, C.J.A.F., Korytar, P., Koelmans, A.A., 2010. Distribution of perfluorinated compounds in aquatic systems 

in the Netherlands. Environmental Science & Technology. 44, 3746–3751. 

Lau, C., Butenhoff, J.L., Rogers, J.M., 2004. The developmental toxicity of perfluoroalkyl acids and their 

derivatives. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology 198(2), 231–241. 

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en