Abstract
A 96-microwell enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method was evaluated to determine PCDDs/PCDFs in sediment and soil samples from an EPA Superfund site. Samples were prepared and analyzed by both the ELISA and a gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry (GC/HRMS) method. Comparable method precision, accuracy, and detection level (8 ng kg-1) were achieved by the ELISA method with respect to GC/HRMS. However, the extraction and cleanup method developed for the ELISA requires refinement for the soil type that yielded a waxy residue after sample processing. Four types of statistical analyses (Pearson correlation coefficient, paired t-test, nonparametric tests, and McNemar's test of association) were performed to determine whether the two methods produced statistically different results. The log-transformed ELISA-derived 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin values and log-transformed GC/HRMS-derived TEQ values were significantly correlated (r = 0.79) at the 0.05 level. The median difference in values between ELISA and GC/HRMS was not significant at the 0.05 level. Low false negative and false positive rates (<10%) were observed for the ELISA when compared to the GC/HRMS at 1000 ng TEQ kg-1. The findings suggest that immunochemical technology could be a complementary monitoring tool for determining concentrations at the 1000 ng TEQ kg-1 action level for contaminated sediment and soil. The ELISA could also be used in an analytical triage approach to screen and rank samples prior to instrumental analysis.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 95-103 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Chemosphere |
Volume | 72 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2008 |
Keywords
- 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin
- GC/HRMS
- Immunoassay
- PCDD
- PCDF
- TCDD
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Chemistry
- Environmental Science(all)