VAMS-Based Blood Capillary Sampling for Mass Spectrometry-Based Human Metabolomics Studies

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Analytical Chemistry
• Human Physiology

Background:

• Volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) offers a minimally invasive method for collecting single blood drops.
• VAMS integration with mass spectrometry (MS)-based metabolomics presents a less-invasive alternative to phlebotomy, enabling remote sample collection.
• Previous findings indicated VAMS samples require long-term storage at -80 °C.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the short-term storage stability of VAMS samples at room temperature.
• To compare the metabolome obtained from VAMS capillary blood with plasma and venous blood.
• To assess the suitability of VAMS capillary blood for untargeted metabolomics.

Main Methods:

• Collected capillary blood via VAMS from 22 healthy volunteers.
• Analyzed metabolome stability at room temperature over time.
• Compared VAMS capillary blood metabolome with plasma and venous blood metabolome using MS-based approaches.

Main Results:

• VAMS blood metabolome is stable at room temperature for up to 6 hours.
• Significant metabolomic changes occur after 6 hours without -80 °C storage.
• VAMS capillary blood demonstrated superior metabolome coverage, including intracellular metabolites, compared to plasma.
• Untargeted metabolomics is feasible with VAMS capillary blood using appropriate pre-analytical protocols.

Conclusions:

• VAMS samples require storage at -80 °C after 6 hours at room temperature to maintain metabolome integrity.
• Capillary blood collected by VAMS provides a more comprehensive metabolome profile than plasma.
• VAMS is a viable method for untargeted metabolomics studies, especially when using capillary blood with optimized protocols.