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A selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry study of ammonia in mouth‐ and nose‐exhaled breath and in the oral cavity
Author(s) -
Smith David,
Wang Tianshu,
Pysanenko Andriy,
Španěl Patrik
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.3434
Subject(s) - chemistry , breath gas analysis , ammonia , oral cavity , tube (container) , exhaled breath condensate , nose , exhaled air , exhalation , mass spectrometry , chromatography , dentistry , surgery , medicine , anesthesia , biochemistry , mechanical engineering , toxicology , asthma , engineering , biology
A study has been carried out, involving three healthy volunteers, of the ammonia levels in breath exhaled via the mouth and via the nose and in the static oral cavity using on‐line, selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT‐MS), obviating the problems associated with sample collection of ammonia. The unequivocal conclusion drawn is that the ammonia appearing in the mouth‐exhaled breath of the three volunteers is largely generated in the oral cavity and that the ammonia originating at the alveolar interface in the lungs is typically at levels less than about 100 parts‐per‐billion, which is a small fraction of the total breath ammonia. This leads to the recommendation that exhaled breath analyses should focus on nose‐exhaled breath if the objective is to use breath analysis to investigate systemic, metabolic disease. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.