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Background: Glyphosate is the most widely applied herbicide in agriculture. Glufosinate is a broad spectrum herbicide used to manage glyphosate-resistant weeds. Despite the widespread use of these herbicides, biomonitoring data - which inform risk assessment and management - are sparse., Objectives: To identify determinants of urinary concentrations of these herbicides and their metabolites in pregnancy., Methods: We measured urinary concentrations of glyphosate, glufosinate, and their primary metabolites aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) and 3-methylphosphinicopropionic acid (3-MPPA) in a single spot urine specimen collected during the first trimester of pregnancy from the Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) study. MIREC recruited about 2000 pregnant women from 10 Canadian cities between 2008 and 2011. We used UItra-Performance Liquid Chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) with sensitive limits of detection to quantify analyte concentrations. We examined urinary concentrations according to maternal sociodemographics, sample collection characteristics, reported pesticide use, and consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grain products. We used ANOVA models with specific gravity-standardized chemical concentrations as the dependent variable to determine associations with maternal and sample determinants., Results: Among women with biobanked urine samples (n = 1829-1854), 74% and 72% had detectable concentrations of glyphosate and AMPA, respectively. In contrast, one and six percent of women had detectable concentrations of glufosinate and 3-MPPA, respectively. The specific gravity-standardized geometric mean (95% CI) concentrations of glyphosate and AMPA were 0.112 (0.099-0.127) μg/L and 0.159 (0.147-0.172) μg/L, respectively. We observed a dose-response relationship between consumption of whole grain bread and higher urinary glyphosate concentrations. Season of urine collection and self-reported pesticide use were not associated with increased concentrations of any analyte., Conclusions: We detected glyphosate and AMPA in the majority of pregnant women from this predominantly urban Canadian cohort. Diet was a probable route of exposure., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests:Warren G. Foster reports a relationship with Hollingsworth LLC that includes: paid expert testimony., (Crown Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Metabolomics is an "omic" technique being increasingly used in epidemiological and clinical studies. We developed a method combining untargeted metabolomics with the quantitative determination of eight amino acids (AA) and eight acylcarnitines (AC) in plasma using ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography (UHPLC), electrospray ionization (ESI) and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QTOFMS). Separation of metabolites is performed by ion-pair reverse phase UHPLC using a HSS T3 column (2.1×100mm, 100Å, 1.8μm particle size) and formic acid-ammonium acetate-heptafluorobutyric acid in water and formic acid-ammonium acetate in methanol as mobile phases. Metabolite identification and quantification are achieved using a QTOFMS operating in ESI-positive and full-scan mode along with MS(E) acquisition of fragmentation patterns. Targeted metabolites are quantified using the appropriate labeled standards and include branched-chain AA (leucine, isoleucine, valine), aromatic AA (phenylalanine, tyrosine) as well as acetylcarnitine and propionylcarnitine, which have been identified as biomarkers of future cardiometabolic disease risk. The inter-day precision (relative standard deviation) for the targeted method was <15% for all but one metabolite and accuracy (bias) of amino acids ranged from 0.5% to 13.9% using SRM 1950 as the external standard. Untargeted metabolomics in 30 plasma samples from the general Canadian population revealed 5018 features, of which 48 metabolites were identified using the MZmine 2.19 software including 23 by our in-house library that comprises 671 annotated metabolites. SRM 1950 analysis revealed 11,684 features, among which 154 metabolites were identified. Our method is currently applied in several epidemiological studies to better characterize cardiometabolic diseases and identify new biomarkers for disease prevention., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Bisphenol A (BPA) and triclosan (TCS) are ubiquitous environmental phenols exhibiting endocrine disrupting activities that may be involved in various health disorders in humans. There is a need to measure separately free forms and conjugated metabolites because only the former are biologically active. We have developed sensitive methods using isotope-dilution liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for individual measurements of free BPA and TCS as well as their metabolites, BPA glucuronide (BPAG), BPA monosulfate (BPAS), BPA disulfate (BPADS), TCS glucuronide (TCSG) and TCS sulfate (TCSS) in urine. Comparative analyses of urine samples from 46 volunteers living in the Quebec City area using the new methods and a GC-MS/MS method previously used in our laboratory revealed very strong correlations for total BPA (Spearman's rs=0.862, p<0.0001) and total TCS concentrations (rs=0.942, p<0.0001). Glucuronide metabolites were the most abundant BPA and TCS species in urine samples (>94% of total urinary concentrations). Unconjugated TCS concentrations represented a small proportion of total TCS species (median=1.6%) but its concentration was likely underestimated due to losses by adsorption to the surface of polypropylene tubes used for sample storage. To our knowledge, we are the first to report levels of free, sulfated and glucuronidated TCS levels in human urine., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)