Development and application of sequential window acquisition of all theoretical mass spectra data acquisition modes on ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography triple‐quadrupole/time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry for metabolic profiling of amino acids in human plasma

Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests that amino acids are important indicators of nutritional and metabolic status. A high‐resolution mass spectrometry method based on sequential window acquisition of all theoretical mass spectra acquisition was developed for the simultaneous determination of 16 amino acids in human plasma. Sample preparation by protein precipitation using a mixture of acetonitrile and formic acid was followed by a BEH Amide column. The superiority of this method was investigated by comparing it to time‐of‐flight scan and multiple reaction monitoring modes. The limit of detection in sequential window acquisition of all theoretical mass spectra mode for threonine, methionine, histidine, citrulline, and tryptophan is 0.1 ng on the column; for lysine and asparagine is 0.2 ng; for alanine, pyroglutamic acid, leucine, ornithine, and aspartate is 0.5 ng, for arginine is 1.0 ng; for glutamate and serine is 2.0 ng; for glutamine is 10.0 ng. This method was linear in the range 0.8–40 μg/mL for arginine, citrulline, glutamate, histidine, leucine, methionine, pyroglutamic acid, threonine, tryptophan; 2–100 μg/mL for asparagine, aspartate, lysine, ornithine, serine; and 4–200 μg/mL for alanine, glutamine with good accuracy and precision. Significantly different levels in 11 amino acids were observed between childhood and adulthood, representing the growth and development of individuals relating to the level of amino acids.