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The development and validation of a fast and robust dried blood spot based lipid profiling method to study infant
Albert Koulman1, Philippa Prentice2, Max C Y Wong2
1Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research, Elsie Widdowson Laboratory, 120 Fulbourn Road, Cambridge, CB1 9NL UK.
Insights
Dried blood spots offer a viable method for analyzing infant lipid metabolism, revealing significant metabolic differences between 3- and 12-month-old infants. This technique aids in understanding early life metabolic programming and disease risk.
Area of Science:
- Metabolomics
- Pediatric Research
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Early life exposures influence metabolic programming and later disease risk.
- Lipid metabolism is crucial in the development of metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance.
- Investigating infant metabolic programming is challenging due to ethical and practical limitations of sample collection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate a novel high-resolution mass spectrometry lipid profiling method for dried blood spots (DBS) in infants.
- To assess the impact of DBS collection and processing on lipid profiles.
- To compare lipid profiles from DBS with plasma or whole blood samples.
Main Methods:
- Development and validation of a novel lipid profiling technique using high-resolution mass spectrometry.
- Analysis of lipid composition in dried blood spots from infants.
- Comparison of lipid profiles obtained from DBS versus plasma/whole blood samples.
- Assessment of reproducibility and inter-subject variability in DBS lipid profiles.
Main Results:
- The novel method successfully determined infant lipid composition from DBS.
- Blood spotting and air drying caused lipid oxidation and hydrolysis, necessitating careful data interpretation.
- DBS lipid profiles showed comparable reproducibility to methods requiring larger sample volumes.
- Significant differences in lipid metabolism were observed between infants at 3 and 12 months of age.
Conclusions:
- Dried blood spots are a suitable and reproducible matrix for monitoring infant lipid metabolism.
- The validated method enables the study of metabolic programming and potential disease risks in infants.
- This approach overcomes limitations associated with traditional blood sample collection in neonates and infants.
Abstract:
Early life exposures and metabolic programming are associated with later disease risk. In particular lipid metabolism is thought to play a key role in the development of the metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance in later life. Investigative studies of metabolic programming are limited by the ethics and practicalities of sample collection in small infants. Dried blood spots on filter paper, derived from heel pricks are considered as the most suitable option for this age group. We validated a novel lipid profiling method, based on high resolution mass spectrometry to successfully determine the lipid composition of infants using dried blood spots. The spotting and air drying of blood on paper has noticeable effects on many of the lipids, leading to lipid oxidation and hydrolysis, which demand careful interpretation of the obtained data. We compared the lipid profiles from plasma or whole blood samples and the results from dried blood spots to determine if these revealed the same inter-subject differences. The results from dried blood spots were no less reproducible than other lipid profiling methods which required comparatively larger sample volumes. Therefore, lipid profiles obtained from dried blood spots can be successfully used to monitor infancy lipid metabolism and we show significant differences in the lipid metabolism of infants at age 3 versus 12 months.
