Robotic automation of a UHPLC/MS-MS method profiling one-carbon metabolites, amino acids, and precursors in plasma

Amino acids (AAs) and one-carbon (1-C) metabolism compounds are involved in a range of key metabolic pathways, and mediate numerous health and disease processes in the human body. Previous assays have quantified a limited selection of these compounds and typically require extensive manual handling. Here, we describe the robotic automation of an analytical method for the simultaneous quantification of 37 1-C metabolites, amino acids, and precursors using reversed-phase ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC/MS-MS). Compound extraction from human plasma was tested manually before being robotically automated. The final automated analytical panel was validated on human plasma samples. Our automated and multiplexed method holds promise for application to large cohort studies.