Interlaboratory Assessment of Dried Blood Spot Fatty Acid Compositions

Abstract

Dried blood spots for fatty acid profiling are increasing in popularity; however, variability in results between laboratories has not been characterized. Whole blood from two subjects (low and high n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acid [PUFA] status) was collected, 25 μL applied to butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)‐treated chromatography strips, dried in air, and shipped to five laboratories. Results were reported as “routine” (typical fatty acids for each laboratory) or “standardized” (a set of 19 fatty acids), and outliers and variability (%CV) were determined. Five and eight outliers of a possible 91 measures each were identified by routine and standardized reporting, respectively, including eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n‐3) in the low n‐3 PUFA sample and arachidonic acid in the high n‐3 PUFA sample. By standardized reporting, no outliers were identified for EPA or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n‐3), and %CV decreased from 8.6% to 6.0% and 9.1% to 6.6% for EPA and 10.5% to 7.2% and 10.5% to 6.6% for DHA in the low and high n‐3 PUFA sample, respectively. In conclusion, fatty acid profiles yielded few outliers, and standardization of reporting reduced the variability between laboratories.

Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Newborn Bloodspots: Associations With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Correlation With Maternal Serum Levels

“…Blood spots are also less invasive than other collection methods and have minimal field storage requirements [Ostler et al, 2014]. Here, consistent with only a handful of prior studies [Hewawasam et al, 2017;Metherel et al, 2019] we demonstrated ability to measure most PUFAs in such samples, stored for a period of up to 5 years.…”

“…The goal of this study was therefore to examine the association between ASD and PUFAs measured in newborns, using dried blood spot (DBS) samples. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine neonatal PUFA levels in association with ASD, and one of only a few that has measured PUFAs in newborn bloodspots [Bell et al, 2011;Hewawasam, Liu, Jeffery, Muhlhausler, & Gibson, 2017;Metherel et al, 2019]. We also sought to examine the correlation between PUFA levels in maternal serum samples collected during mid-pregnancy and those in newborn bloodspots, to address potential variability in timing of measurement.…”

Reference materials for MS-based untargeted metabolomics and lipidomics: a review by the metabolomics quality assurance and quality control consortium (mQACC)

“…The implementation of different analyte handling and preparation techniques as well as the intrinsic differences between complementary technologies and platforms has important implications for ensuring QC. The potential for further community-wide efforts, such as interlaboratory studies for GC and LC-MS-based lipid analyses, should continue to be explored, similar to what has previously been achieved in GC-MS-based metabolomics (Lin et al, 2020) and fatty acid methyl ester analysis (Metherel et al, 2019;Schantz et al, 2016). The creation of novel labeled standards that are designed for specific lipid classes, matrices and/ or applications will facilitate future harmonization studies through more accurate quantification.…”

Effects of n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid supplementation on the omega-3 index, and exercise performance among Malaysian football players: a randomised controlled trial

“…A light breakfast snack was provided to all football players after the blood draw sessions. The dried blood spot testing (DBS) method was used for determining the DHA, EPA and n-3 Index (Anzalone et al, 2019;Metherel et al, 2019). Blood was withdrawn by trained phlebotomists in the presence of a Sports Medicine Physician.…”