The first evidence on the occurrence of bisphenol analogues in the aqueous humor of patients undergoing cataract surger

Abstract

Human exposure to BPs is inevitable mostly due to contaminated food. In this prelimi-nary study, for the first time, the presence of bisphenols (BPs) in aqueous humor (AH) collectedfrom 44 patients undergoing cataract surgery was investigated. The measurements were per-formed using a sensitive ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrome-try (UHPLC–MS/MS). Chromatographic separation was achieved using a reverse-phase columnand a gradient elution mode. Multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) was used. The method wasvalidated for bisphenol A (BPA) and bisphenol F (BPF). The limits of quantification (LOQs) of bothinvestigated analytes were 0.25 ng mL−1. The method was linear in the range of 0.25–20.0 ng mL−1with correlation coefficients (R2) higher than 0.98. Recovery of analytes was in the range of 99.9 to104.3% and intra-assay and inter-assay precision expressed by relative standard deviations (RSD%)were less than 5%. BPA was detected in 12 AH samples with mean concentrations of 1.41 ng mL−1.BPF was not detected at all. Furthermore, two structural isomers termed BPA-1, and BPA-2 wereidentified, for the first time, in 40.9% of the AH samples, with almost twice higher mean concen-trations of 2.15 ng mL−1, and 2.25 ng mL−1, respectively. The total content of BPs were higher inpatients with coexisting ocular pathologies such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration(AMD), and diabetes in comparison to cataracts alone. However, the difference between thesegroups did not reach statistical significance (p > 0.05). Performed investigations indicate the needfor further research on a larger population with the aim of knowing the consequences of BPs’ ac-cumulation in AH for visual function.