“…The sample preparation procedure principally involved a deproteinization step (referred to as acidic pretreatment), which is performed by organic solvents (methanol and acetonitrile) and acids (trifluoroacetic acid, trichloroacetic acid, and hydrochloric acid) in different combinations [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. After that step, solid-phase extraction is implemented on polymeric-based SPE [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 14 ], C18-SPE [ 15 ], or ion exchange cartridges [ 12 , 13 ]. Finally, before LC-MS/MS analysis one of several different filtration steps occurs [ 8 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 15 ].…”