Simultaneous Determination of Underivatized Vitamin B1 and B6 in Whole Blood by Reversed Phase Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin B1 (thiamine-diphosphate) and B6 (pyridoxal-5'phosphate) are micronutrients. Analysis of these micronutrients is important to diagnose potential deficiency which often occurs in elderly people due to malnutrition, in severe alcoholism and in gastrointestinal compromise due to bypass surgery or disease. Existing High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) based methods include the need for derivatization and long analysis time. We developed an Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) assay with internal standards for simultaneous measurement of underivatized thiamine-diphosphate and pyridoxal-5'phosphate without use of ion pairing reagent. METHODS: Whole blood, deproteinized with perchloric acid, containing deuterium labelled internal standards thiamine-diphosphate(thiazole-methyl-D3) and pyridoxal-5'phosphate(methyl-D3), was analyzed by UHPLC-MS/MS. The method was validated for imprecision, linearity, recovery and limit of quantification. Alternate (quantitative) method comparisons of the new versus currently used routine HPLC methods were established with Deming regression. RESULTS: Thiamine-diphosphate and pyridoxal-5'phosphate were measured within 2.5 minutes instrumental run time. Limits of detection were 2.8 nmol/L and 7.8 nmol/L for thiamine-diphosphate and pyridoxal-5'phosphate respectively. Limit of quantification was 9.4 nmol/L for thiamine-diphosphate and 25.9 nmol/L for pyridoxal-5'phosphate. The total imprecision ranged from 3.5-7.7% for thiamine-diphosphate (44-157 nmol/L) and 6.0-10.4% for pyridoxal-5'phosphate (30-130 nmol/L). Extraction recoveries were 101-102% ± 2.5% (thiamine-diphosphate) and 98-100% ± 5% (pyridoxal-5'phosphate). Deming regression yielded slopes of 0.926 and 0.990 in patient samples (n = 282) and national proficiency testing samples (n = 12) respectively, intercepts of +3.5 and +3 for thiamine-diphosphate (n = 282 and n = 12) and slopes of 1.04 and 0.84, intercepts of -2.9 and +20 for pyridoxal-5'phosphate (n = 376 and n = 12). CONCLUSION: The described UHPLC-MS/MS method allows simultaneous determination of underivatized thiamine-diphosphate and pyridoxal-5'phosphate in whole blood without intensive sample preparation.

Advancement in stationary phase for peptide separation helps in protein identification: application to atheroma plaque proteomics using nano-chip liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

In the last decades, proteomics has largely progressed. Mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography (LC) are generally used in proteomics. These techniques enable proper separation of peptides and good identification and/or quantification of them. Later, nano-scaled liquid chromatography, improvements of mass spectrometry resolution and sensitivity brought huge advancements. Enhancements in chemistry of chromatographic columns also brought interesting results. In the present work, the potency of identification of proteins by different nano-chip columns was studied and compared with classical LC column. The present study was applied to cardiovascular field where proteomics has shown to be highly helpful in research of new biomarkers. Protein extracts from atheroma plaques were used and proteomics data were compared. Results show that fewer spectra were acquired by the mass spectrometer when nano-chip columns were used instead of the classical ones. However, approximately 40% more unique peptides were identified by the recently optimized chip named Polaris-HR-chip-3C18 column, and 20% more proteins were identified. This fact leads to the identification of more low-abundance proteins. Many of them are involved in atheroma plaque development such as apolipoproteins, ceruloplasmin, etc. In conclusion, present data shows that recent developments of nanoLC column chemistry and dimensions enabled the improved detection and identification of low-abundance proteins in atheroma plaques. Several of them are of major interest in the field of cardiovascular disease.

Metrological traceability in mass spectrometry-based targeted protein quantitation: a proof-of-principle study for serum apolipoproteins A-I and B100.

In this study, we have followed up on previous liquid chromatography (LC) multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mass spectrometry (MS) approaches for measurement of apolipoprotein (apo) A-I and apo B100 in serum aiming for implementation of a multiplexed assay in a clinical chemistry laboratory with full metrological traceability. Signature peptides were selected and detected by dynamic MRM, and stable isotope labeled (SIL)-peptides were used as internal standards. Five apo A-I and four apo B100 peptides were measured in serum digests with linearity (R(2)>0.992) in the physiologically relevant concentration ranges. Linearity with regard to protein concentration was ascertained at five concentration levels (R(2)>0.926 and R(2)>0.965, for the apo A-I and apo B100 peptides, respectively). Three native value-assigned sera were used as external calibrators for further method verification. Imprecision values on sample preparation and LC-MS/MS acquisition were below the established minimal specifications for apo A-I and apo B100 (5.0% and 5.3%, respectively). Correlation of LC-MS/MS results with immunoturbidimetric assay results, for normo- and hypertriglyceridemic samples, showed R(2)>0.944 for apo A-I and R(2)>0.964 for apo B100. This LC-MS/MS method has potential for clinical application in normo- and dyslipidemic patients. BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Measurement of apo A-I and apo B100 may offer an alternative to high and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c and LDL-c) methods for cardiovascular disease risk assessment in dyslipidemic patients [1]. An LC-MS/MS method for apo A-I and apo B100 has the advantage of antibody independent and specific detection of protein signature peptides. The introduction of an LC-MS/MS method for apo A-I and apo B100 can serve as an example for many existing and newly developed (multiplex) biomarker methods in quantitative clinical chemistry proteomics (qCCP). Such LC-MS/MS methods should meet basic clinical chemistry principles with regard to test evaluation [2]. Criteria for imprecision should be pre-defined, e.g., based on biological variation. The use of commutable and traceable serum-based calibrators will improve inter-laboratory reproducibility of LC-MS/MS methods and may contribute to a more rapid transition of biomarker discovery to clinical utility with benefit for the patient treatment and improvement of general health care.