Development of a Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry Cartridge with Integrated Solid Phase Extraction for Bioanalysis

A novel paper spray cartridge with an integrated solid phase extraction (SPE) column is described. The cartridge performs extraction and pre-concentration, as well as sample ionization by paper spray, from complex samples such as plasma. The cartridge allows for selective enrichment of target molecules from larger sample volumes and removal of the matrix, which significantly improved the signal intensity of target compounds in plasma samples by paper spray ionization. Detection limits, quantitative performance, recovery, ionization suppression, and the effects of sample volume were evaluated for five drugs: carbamazepine, atenolol, sulfamethazine, diazepam, and alprazolam. Compared with direct paper spray analysis of dried plasma spots, paper spray analysis using the integrated solid phase extraction improved the detection limits significantly by a factor of 14-70, depending on the drug. The improvement in detection limits was, in large part, due to the capability of analyzing larger sample volumes. In addition, ionization suppression was found to be lower and recovery was higher for paper spray with integrated SPE, as compared to direct paper spray analysis. By spiking an isotopically labeled internal standard into the plasma sample, a linear calibration curve for the drugs was obtained from the limit of detection (LOD) to 1 μg/mL, indicating that this method can be used for quantitative analysis. The paper spray cartridge with integrated SPE could prove valuable for analytes that ionize poorly, in applications where lower detection limits are required, or on portable mass spectrometers. The improved performance comes at the cost of requiring a more complex paper spray cartridge and requiring larger sample volumes than those used in typical direct paper spray ionization.