Evaluation of the Mitra microsampling device for use with key urinary metabolites in patients with Alkaptonuria
Taylor et al.
The finding, in our words
Volumetric absorptive microsampling provided accurate and precise measurement of key urinary metabolites in alkaptonuria with good recovery and reproducibility, and dried samples compared favourably with liquid specimens, although variable analyte stability may present barriers to routine implementation.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The authors developed and optimised a dual LC-MS workflow for non-targeted metabolomics from blood microsamples, comprising a 15-minute HILIC-MS method for polar metabolites and an RPLC-MS method for mid- to non-polar compounds. A 20% water/80% methanol extraction with rehydration offered a practical compromise that detected numerous metabolite features across amino acid, acylcarnitine and bile acid pathways, enabling decentralised metabolomic analysis.
Untargeted metabolomic profiles from three blood microsampling devices aligned more closely with whole blood than with plasma, and all devices distinguished sex based on amino acids, lipids, and acylcarnitines. This validates that device choice can be tailored to the metabolites of interest for decentralised human biomonitoring.
A comparison of three patient-centric dried blood microsampling devices, paper DBS, Mitra and Tasso-M20, found strong to excellent correlation with traditional venous plasma for measuring branched-chain amino acids and ketoacids. Participants reported high acceptability and expressed a strong willingness to use these devices for decentralised self-collection.
In an untargeted metabolomics study, microsampling devices, particularly the Mitra and Capitainer, yielded metabolic profiles comparable or superior to plasma in feature number and intensity, and in the precision and stability of some metabolites. This supports their potential for large-scale, decentralised metabolic profiling, though the captured metabolite profile was application-dependent.
This study found that dried blood microsamples, particularly those collected with the Mitra device, provided metabolic profiles comparable or superior to conventional plasma, supporting their use as a viable alternative for untargeted metabolomics.