Comparison of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and molybdenum blue colorimetry for total phosphorus determination in freshwater invertebrates.
Molybdenum blue colorimetry (MBC) is the dominant, well-established method used for determining total P in environmental media, including in organismal tissues. However, other elemental methods for P determination are available, including inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Given...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-01-01
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317871 |
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| author | Molly S Costanza-Robinson Baker J Angstman Qiting Cai Charles Forbes Julia S Keon Shuyi Lin Emma D Neill Elizabeth G Peebles Ella Roelofs Eric K Moody |
| author_facet | Molly S Costanza-Robinson Baker J Angstman Qiting Cai Charles Forbes Julia S Keon Shuyi Lin Emma D Neill Elizabeth G Peebles Ella Roelofs Eric K Moody |
| author_sort | Molly S Costanza-Robinson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Molybdenum blue colorimetry (MBC) is the dominant, well-established method used for determining total P in environmental media, including in organismal tissues. However, other elemental methods for P determination are available, including inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Given the extensive literature using MBC to determine P in organismal samples, it is important to assess P analyses by ICP-MS and MBC to ensure that the two methods produce comparable data. In this work, we compared ICP-MS and MBC for total P determination in freshwater invertebrates, including the potential for analytical interferences, by applying both methods to three standard reference materials (SRMs) and 106 freshwater invertebrate samples. Average total P recoveries for SRMs were slightly higher for ICP-MS (99.8 ± 5.2%) than MBC (96.5 ± 5.4%), but both methods indicated good accuracy. Total P in invertebrates determined using the two methods was strongly linearly correlated (r = 0.96) with a slope of 1.01. On the whole, total P measured using ICP-MS exceeded that measured by MBC, but average pair-wise differences in %P were biologically negligible (0.044 ± 0.054). %P for SRMs and invertebrate samples run on ICP-MS in kinetic energy discrimination and standard modes compared favorably (e.g., SRM P recovery of 102% by both methods), indicating negligible influence of polyatomic ions on ICP-MS analysis. Similarly, analysis of P spike recoveries by ICP-MS (100.2 ± 3.4%) and MBC (107.0 ± 2.8%) were both considered acceptable. We conclude that ICP-MS represents a reliable and comparable alternative to MBC for determining total P in freshwater invertebrates while also offering the opportunity to measure additional biologically relevant elements in a single analysis. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-68794f77c8b047239caf557bf38e0e83 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
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| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-68794f77c8b047239caf557bf38e0e832025-02-05T05:31:57ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01201e031787110.1371/journal.pone.0317871Comparison of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and molybdenum blue colorimetry for total phosphorus determination in freshwater invertebrates.Molly S Costanza-RobinsonBaker J AngstmanQiting CaiCharles ForbesJulia S KeonShuyi LinEmma D NeillElizabeth G PeeblesElla RoelofsEric K MoodyMolybdenum blue colorimetry (MBC) is the dominant, well-established method used for determining total P in environmental media, including in organismal tissues. However, other elemental methods for P determination are available, including inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Given the extensive literature using MBC to determine P in organismal samples, it is important to assess P analyses by ICP-MS and MBC to ensure that the two methods produce comparable data. In this work, we compared ICP-MS and MBC for total P determination in freshwater invertebrates, including the potential for analytical interferences, by applying both methods to three standard reference materials (SRMs) and 106 freshwater invertebrate samples. Average total P recoveries for SRMs were slightly higher for ICP-MS (99.8 ± 5.2%) than MBC (96.5 ± 5.4%), but both methods indicated good accuracy. Total P in invertebrates determined using the two methods was strongly linearly correlated (r = 0.96) with a slope of 1.01. On the whole, total P measured using ICP-MS exceeded that measured by MBC, but average pair-wise differences in %P were biologically negligible (0.044 ± 0.054). %P for SRMs and invertebrate samples run on ICP-MS in kinetic energy discrimination and standard modes compared favorably (e.g., SRM P recovery of 102% by both methods), indicating negligible influence of polyatomic ions on ICP-MS analysis. Similarly, analysis of P spike recoveries by ICP-MS (100.2 ± 3.4%) and MBC (107.0 ± 2.8%) were both considered acceptable. We conclude that ICP-MS represents a reliable and comparable alternative to MBC for determining total P in freshwater invertebrates while also offering the opportunity to measure additional biologically relevant elements in a single analysis.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317871 |
| spellingShingle | Molly S Costanza-Robinson Baker J Angstman Qiting Cai Charles Forbes Julia S Keon Shuyi Lin Emma D Neill Elizabeth G Peebles Ella Roelofs Eric K Moody Comparison of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and molybdenum blue colorimetry for total phosphorus determination in freshwater invertebrates. PLoS ONE |
| title | Comparison of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and molybdenum blue colorimetry for total phosphorus determination in freshwater invertebrates. |
| title_full | Comparison of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and molybdenum blue colorimetry for total phosphorus determination in freshwater invertebrates. |
| title_fullStr | Comparison of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and molybdenum blue colorimetry for total phosphorus determination in freshwater invertebrates. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comparison of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and molybdenum blue colorimetry for total phosphorus determination in freshwater invertebrates. |
| title_short | Comparison of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and molybdenum blue colorimetry for total phosphorus determination in freshwater invertebrates. |
| title_sort | comparison of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and molybdenum blue colorimetry for total phosphorus determination in freshwater invertebrates |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0317871 |
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