Tip-tip filtration ameliorates single-phase extraction methods for plasma large-scale lipidomics analysis

We evaluated the performance of three different single-phase extraction methods to be used before untargeted lipidomics analysis by Liquid Chromatography High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry. Lipids were extracted from a pool of healthy human donors' plasma in triplicates and run in both positive and negative ESI. The most satisfactory results were attained using methanol/chloroform (2:1, v/v) mixture. Eventually, we evaluated whether a filtration of the samples could be beneficial to yield cleaner and more mass-friendly extracts. Instead of using syringes, we set up a method we called tip-tip filtration, which requires the usage of a filtrating pipette tip. This way of purification led to superior results than the solvent extraction method alone. This additional procedure not only increased reproducibility but also allowed the same lipid coverage. In addition, it permitted to spare time and money, as tip-tip filtration is not particularly expensive nor time-consuming and hopefully it may be useful to increase analytical column lifetime.

Automated summary

In this study, we evaluated the performance of three different single-phase extraction methods for untargeted lipidomics analysis. We found that a methanol/chloroform mixture produced the most satisfactory results. In addition, we developed a filtration method called tip-tip filtration, which improved sample purity and mass compatibility. This method not only increased reproducibility, but also saved time and money.