Nontargeted Analysis of the Chemical Exposome in Preterm Birth: A Pilot Study of Placenta and Maternal Serum

We hypothesized that untargeted chemical profiling of paired maternal serum and placenta would reveal distinct exposure signatures and metabolic disruptions associated with preterm birth. We analyzed paired maternal serum and placenta samples from 83 pregnant women in New York City, USA, including 30 who delivered preterm (<37 weeks), by non-targeted analysis (NTA) using ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Orbitrap HRMS).

We confirmed 29 chemicals (Level 1), 28 of them exogenous, tentatively identified 1012 peak features (Level 2), and annotated 1180 peak features via <i>in silico</i> simulation (Level 3). Five Level 1 confirmed exogenous chemicals (i.e., dodecyltrimethylammonium, N,N-dimethyldecylamine oxide, rimsulfuron, triphenylphosphine oxide, and 2,6-dichlorobenzamide) and 208 tentatively identified Level 2 chemicals detected in this study appear not to have been previously detected in human blood samples.