Neonicotinoids exposure assessment in Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) by using an environmentally-friendly sample preparation technique followed by UPLC-MS/MS

Abstract

A miniaturized QuEChERS extraction method followed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was developed to analyze thiamethoxam and imidacloprid in 0.3 g of lyophilized Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). The work aimed to estimate honey bees' exposure to pesticides at the nanogram/gram (ng g⁻¹) levels, using small sample and reagent quantities. Low amounts of solvents and salts were employed – 15× less than used in traditional methods. Average recoveries ranged from 64.5% to 99.7%, with repeatability below 20% for samples spiked at 3 and 167 ng g⁻¹. LOD and LOQ were 0.7, and 3 ng g⁻¹ for both pesticides. Applying the proposed approach, honey bee samples from different apiaries from the State of São Paulo (Brazil) were analyzed. The pesticides were detected in concentrations between 7.0 and 27.0 ng g⁻¹. Thus, the proposed method can be used as a greener alternative to analyze the two neonicotinoids at trace levels in small quantities of bees, consequently saving chemicals and waste.

Keywords:

• QuEChERS
• honey bees
• neonicotinoids
• mass spectrometry
• miniaturization

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank beekeepers for providing the honey bee samples for the development and application of this work. The authors acknowledge the support provided by the São Paulo Research Foundation, FAPESP (Grant 2017/02147-0), the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, CNPq (Grant 307293/2014-9), and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - Brazil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.

Disclosure statement

The authors have declared no conflict of interest.

Credit author statement

Ana Maria Barbosa-Medina: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Validation, Writing-Original Draft, Writing-Review & Editing; Edvaldo Vasconcelos Soares Maciel: Validation, Original Draft, Writing-Review & Editing; Dayana Moscardi dos Santos: Investigation, Writing-Review & Editing; Fernando Mauro Lanças: Resources, Writing-Review & Editing; Eny Maria Vieira: Conceptualization, Resources, Project administration.

Data availability statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) under Grant No. 18/16244-0; Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) under Grant No. 169193/2017-9; Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - Brazil (CAPES) - Finance Code 001.