High-throughput sample preparation and analysis using 96-well membrane solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for the determination of steroids in human urine

AbstractA 96-well solid-phase extraction (SPE) system is used to rapidly prepare human urine samples for high-throughput quantitative analysis of two steroids, equilenin and progesterone, by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry using deuterated estrone as the internal standard. We define high-throughput here as analysis of 384 samples in a 24 h period. A total of 384 samples and standards were extracted by an individual in one day and subsequently analyzed within a 24 h period. The inter- and intratray accuracy and precision obtained over the course of these injections was within 8% coefficient of variation when analyzed by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry using positive ion detection. A semiautomated sample processing workstation was used to add internal standard and then process 96 samples at a time. The recovery of the analytes from the SPE was approximately 85%. The accuracy and precision obtained was comparable to that ordinarily obtained using manual sample preparation techniques

The determination of glycopeptides by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry with collision-induced dissociation

AbstractGlycopeptides derived from ribonuclease B and ovomucoid have been subjected to collision-induced dissociation (CID) in the second quadrupole of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. Doubly charged parent ions gave predictable fragmentation that yielded partial sequence information of the attached oligosaccharide as Hex and HexNAc units. Common oxonium ions are observed in the product ion mass spectra of the glycopeptides that correspond to HexNAc+ (m/z 204) and HexHexNAc+ (m/z 366). A strategy for locating the glycopeptides in the proteolytic digest mixtures of glycoproteins by ions spray liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC/MS) is described by utilizing CID in the declustering region of the atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometer to produce these characteristic oxonium ions. This LC/CID/MS approach is used to identify glycopeptides in proteolytic digest mixtures of ovomucoid, asialofetuin, and fetuin. LC/CID/MS in the selected ion monitoring mode may be used to identify putative glycopeptides from the proteolytic digest of fetuin