Minimally Invasive Biospecimen Collection for Exposome Research in Children's Health

Abstract

Purpose of review: The advent of low-volume biosampling and novel biomarker matrices offers non- or minimally invasive approaches to sampling in children. These new technologies, combined with advancements in mass spectrometry that provide high sensitivity, robust measurements of low-concentration exposures, facilitate the application of untargeted metabolomics in children's exposome research. Here, we review emerging sampling technologies for alternative biomatrices-dried capillary blood, interstitial fluid, saliva, teeth, and hair-and highlight recent applications of these samplers to drive discovery in population-based exposure research.

Recent findings: Biosampling and biomarker technologies demonstrate potential to directly measure exposures during key developmental time periods. While saliva is the most traditional of the reported biomatrices, each technology has key advantages and disadvantages. For example, hair and teeth provide retrospective analysis of past exposures, and dried capillary blood provides quantitative measurements of systemic exposures that can be more readily compared with traditional venous blood measurements. Importantly, all technologies can or have the potential to be used at home, increasing the convenience and parental support for children's biosampling. This review describes emerging sample collection technologies that hold promise for children's exposome studies. While applications in metabolomics are still limited, these novel matrices are poised to facilitate longitudinal exposome studies to discover key exposures and windows of susceptibility affecting children's health.

Keywords: Exposome; Microsamplers; Pediatric; Untargeted metabolomics.

Figure 1

Schematic of appropriate ages for selected at-home biosampling devices. Age ranges are prenatal (before birth), newborn (birth - 6 months), infant (6–12 months), toddler (12 – 36 months), preschool (3–5 years), school age (5–10 years), adolescents (10–19 years), and adults (> 19 years). Solid arrows reflect concurrent exposure measurements. Dashed arrows represent retrospective exposure measurements. ^a at-home interstitial fluid collection is still in the prototype phase. Similar at-home technologies using microneedle arrays but for blood collection (e.g. TAP) are commercially available