MassChrom® Amino Acid Analysis in Plasma/Serum with Reaction Vials - LC-MS/MS

• Quantitative Amino Acid Analysis (AAA) of 48 analytes
• Fast sample prep without derivatisation
• Short run times
• Excellent separation of isobaric analytes
• Each analyte safeguarded by its own internal standard

MassChrom® Amino Acid Analysis (AAA) is designed for the quantitative determination of amino acids in plasma/serum by LC-MS/MS. The method covers 48 amino acids and derivatives that are analysed in 20 min in one single run. Alternatively, the same assay allows the determination of 7 specific analytes in a much shorter run time (8-9 min) using a modified gradient. Both panels use the identical chromatographic setup, research sample preparation procedure, 3PLUS1® Multilevel Calibrator Set and MassCheck® Controls. In addition, each of the 48 analytes is safeguarded by an own internal standard.

The assay is available in 2 versions either with reaction vials or with 96 deep well plates.

All HPLC assays and most LC-MS/MS assays require derivatisation steps for a good separation of isobaric analytes but to also increase detector response. In contrast, the MassChrom® LC-MS/MS assay eliminates the need for derivatisation.
The benefits:

• Faster sample prep
• Error-prone analytical steps are omitted
• Increased accuracy of results and higher robustness of the method

A number of amino acids are isobars and require a clear chromatographic separation. The sophisticated chromatographic setup of MassChrom® Amino Acid Analysis provides an efficient separation of all isobars such as Ile, Leu and Allo-Ile and works reliably for both, full panel and specific panel.

Each of the 48 amino acids is safeguarded by its own isotopically-labelled internal standard. This includes also saccharopine and hydroxylysine that are custom-made and commercially not available anywhere else. The internal standards take care of a potential small variability in recovery, matrix effects and ionisation effectiveness by providing virtually identical chemical properties of the respective analyte.

Quality controls and the 3PLUS1® Multilevel Calibrator Set are human-matrix based. This is aimed at simulating the composition of samples as closely as possible. It reflects the performance of the method with real samples and helps to minimise matrix effects.

The calibrator material from Chromsystems is also linked to a common reference, a standard of higher order, documented in a traceability chain and available on the website. Customers can also download an Excel file with the values for quality controls and calibrators, eliminating the need for manual data entry. 

Standard HPLC Amino Acid Analysers use ion exchange chromatography and derivatisation with ninhydrin, requiring approximately 140-150 min for the analysis of all compounds. In contrast,  the LC-MS/MS assay from Chromsystems requires 20 minutes to quantify all 48 amino acids in a single run. This translates in a 7-fold increase of throughput in the laboratory. The speed of analysis can be further increased by using the shorter specific panel with a throughput of more than 17 samples within the same time frame of one analytical run with a standard HPLC-based assay. A switch between these 2 modes requires no changes to the chromatographic setup and can therefore be chosen flexibly depending on the sample amount and requirements.