In-vial dried urine spot collection and processing for quantitative analyses

Analysis of dried urine spots (DUSs) is becoming an emerging technique in clinical, toxicological, and forensic chemistry due to the fully non-invasive collection, facile transportation, and simple storage of DUS samples. Correct DUS collection and elution is of the utmost importance because inadequate DUS sampling/processing may have direct consequences on quantitative DUS analyses and these aspects were, for the first time, comprehensively investigated in this contribution. Various groups of endogenous and exogenous species were selected as model analytes and their concentrations were monitored in DUSs collected on standard cellulose -based sampling cards. Strong chromatographic effects were observed for most analytes having a crucial impact on their distribution within the DUSs during sampling. Concentrations of target analytes were up to 3.75 -fold higher in the central DUS sub-punch in comparison to the liquid urine. Consequently, substantially reduced concentrations of these analytes were determined in peripheral DUS sub-punches demonstrating that sub -punching, often applied to dried material spots, is not acceptable for quantitative DUS analyses. Hence, a sim-ple, rapid, and user-friendly procedure was suggested, which employed an in-vial collection of a known urine volume on a pre-punched sampling disc (using a low-cost micropipette designed for patient-centric clinical sampling) and in-vial processing of the whole DUS. Excellent accuracy (0.20%) and precision (0.89%) of liquid transfers were achieved by the micropipette, which was also applied to remote DUS collection by laic and expert users. The resulting DUS eluates were analysed by capillary electrophoresis (CE) for the determination of endogenous urine species. The CE results demonstrated no significant differences between the two user groups, elution efficiencies of 88-100% (in comparison to the liquid urine), and precision better than 5.5%.

Automated summary

Analysis of dried urine spots (DUSs) is increasingly used in clinical, toxicological, and forensic chemistry due to the non-invasive collection and easy storage of DUS samples. This study investigated the importance of correct DUS collection and elution, and found that inadequate sampling and processing can significantly affect quantitative DUS analyses. A simple and user-friendly procedure was suggested for DUS collection, employing a micropipette for accurate liquid transfers. Capillary electrophoresis was used to analyze the resulting DUS eluates, showing no significant differences between different user groups and high elution efficiencies.