Skip Navigation
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document
Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document

Your Environment. Your Health.

Publication Detail

Title: Inactivation of SARS-CoV-2 in clinical exhaled breath condensate samples for metabolomic analysis.

Authors: Hu, Shuang; McCartney, Mitchell M; Arredondo, Juan; Sankaran-Walters, Sumathi; Borras, Eva; Harper, Richart W; Schivo, Michael; Davis, Cristina E; Kenyon, Nicholas J; Dandekar, Satya

Published In J Breath Res, (2021 Dec 20)

Abstract: Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is routinely collected and analyzed in breath research. Because it contains aerosol droplets, EBC samples from SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals harbor the virus and pose the threat of infectious exposure. We report for the first time a safe and consistent method to fully inactivate SARS-CoV-2 in EBC samples and make EBC samples safe for processing and analysis. EBC samples containing infectious SARS-CoV-2 were treated with several concentrations of acetonitrile. The most commonly used 10% acetonitrile treatment for EBC processing failed to completely inactivate the virus in samples and viable virus was detected by the assay of SARS-CoV-2 infection of Vero E6 cells in a biosafety level 3 laboratory. Treatment with either 50% or 90% acetonitrile was effective to completely inactivate the virus, resulting in safe, non-infectious EBC samples that can be used for metabolomic analysis. Our study provides SARS-CoV-2 inactivation protocol for the collection and processing of EBC samples in the clinical setting and for advancing to metabolic assessments in health and disease.

PubMed ID: 34852327 Exiting the NIEHS site

MeSH Terms: Breath Tests; COVID-19*; Exhalation; Humans; Metabolomics; SARS-CoV-2*

Back
to Top