Design of Breath Sampling Device and Procedure for Volatile Organic Compounds and Exhaled Breath Condensate

Abstract

Breath analysis is a potential tool for non-invasive diagnostic biomarker discovery. Precise analysis of organic compounds in exhaled breath require appropriate sample collection methods. However, few researches have reported methods for collecting volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) simultaneously. In this study, the sampling device was designed for collecting both VOCs and EBC in breath with applicable sampling procedure. Conditioning and storage methods for sampling device were evaluated to prevent possible contaminants and artefacts. Analysis of VOCs samples were performed by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). The results show that this sampling device and procedure could efficiently collect VOCs and EBC at the same time, thereby providing recommendations for standardization of breath sampling.