Simultaneous quantification of 21 water soluble vitamin circulating forms in human plasma by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

This manuscript reports a validated analytical approach for the quantification of 21 water soluble vitamins and their main circulating forms in human plasma. Isotope dilution-based sample preparation consisted of protein precipitation using acidic methanol enriched with stable isotope labelled internal standards. Separation was achieved by reversed-phase liquid chromatography and detection performed by tandem mass spectrometry in positive electrospray ionization mode. Instrumental lower limits of detection and quantification reached <0.1-10nM and 0.2-25nM, respectively. Commercially available pooled human plasma was used to build matrix-matched calibration curves ranging 2-500, 5-1250, 20-5000 or 150-37500nM depending on the analyte. The overall performance of the method was considered adequate, with 2.8-20.9% and 5.2-20.0% intra and inter-day precision, respectively and averaged accuracy reaching 91-108%. Recovery experiments were also performed and reached in average 82%. This analytical approach was then applied for the quantification of circulating water soluble vitamins in human plasma single donor samples. The present report provides a sensitive and reliable approach for the quantification of water soluble vitamins and main circulating forms in human plasma. In the future, the application of this analytical approach will give more confidence to provide a comprehensive assessment of water soluble vitamins nutritional status and bioavailability studies in humans.

Determination of folate in infant formula and adult/pediatric nutritional formula by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry: First Action 2013.13.

A UHPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of folate (vitamin B9) in infant formula and adult/pediatric nutritional formula was assessed for compliance with standard method performance requirements set forth by the AOAC INTERNATIONAL Stakeholder Panel for Infant Formula and Adult Nutritionals (SPIFAN). A single-laboratory validation (SLV) study was conducted as the first step in the process to validate the method. In the study, 12 matrixes, representing the range of infant and adult nutritional products, were evaluated for folate [the sum of supplemental folic acid plus 5-methyl tetrahydrofolic acid (5-Me THF)]. Method response was linear in the range of 1.0-900 ng/mL, corresponding to 0.33-300 microg/l100 g in reconstituted sample. LOD for folic acid and 5-Me THF, expressed in reconstituted product, were 0.10 microg/100 g and 0.05 microg/100 g, respectively, and LOQ were 0.33 microg/100 g and 0.10 microg/100 g, respectively. Repeatability was <5.3% and intermediate precision was <5.5%. Recovery rates of spiking at 50 and 100% of target values in nonfortified products were within 90-110%. Evaluation of trueness was performed on Certified Reference Material (SRM 1849 Infant/Adult Nutritional Formula) and gave 96.4% of theoretical value. Based on the results of the SLV, the method meets the SPIFAN requirements for AOAC First Action status for the determination of folates in infant formula and adult/pediatric nutritional formula.