Volumetric dried blood spot microsampling: A sustainable, patient-friendly, and practical approach for retinol and α-tocopherol analysis in a clinical setting
Suwanvecho et al.
The finding, in our words
Volumetric dried blood spot microsampling enables retinol analysis with over 90% extraction efficiency from only 10 µL of blood, though α-tocopherol recovery ranges from 53 to 75% depending on filter paper. The method improves sample stability to 30 days at -80°C and reduces shipping volume more than a thousandfold, making micronutrient monitoring practical for decentralised settings.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
Volumetric absorptive microsampling showed better precision than dried blood spots and a metabolic profile closer to whole blood, with stable signalling lipids for 24 hours at room temperature but significant changes after one week unless stabilised, indicating feasibility for decentralised sampling with the need for storage strategies.
The analysis indicates that dried blood spots and volumetric absorptive microsampling enable minimally invasive monitoring of prohibited substances, with volumetric absorptive microsampling offering improved quantitative reliability over traditional dried spots.
This review found that volumetric microsampling devices, such as Mitra, HemaPEN, HemaXis DB10, and Tasso-M20, overcome haematocrit bias, whilst Telimmune plasma separation cards enable direct plasma collection without centrifugation. These technologies support patient-centric, decentralised sampling, though the authors note that clinical validation remains limited across different drugs and patient populations.
Capillary dried blood spots, after haematocrit-dependent conversion, showed good agreement with plasma for 25-hydroxyvitamin D quantification, with 90 per cent of results within 20 per cent of plasma and substantial to almost perfect agreement in status classification, supporting reliable home self-collection for large-scale vitamin D monitoring.
This study found that measuring thyroid-stimulating hormone via dried blood spots and a volumetric device showed high agreement with serum results, with classification accuracy exceeding 96 per cent. The volumetric approach demonstrated improved reproducibility and stability, supporting its use for decentralised thyroid function monitoring.