A novel strategy for reducing phospholipids-based matrix effect in LC-ESI-MS bioanalysis by means of HybridSPE

A novel strategy to minimize phospholipids-based matrix effects in bioanalytical LC-MS/MS assays was evaluated. The phospholipids-based matrix effect was investigated with a commercially available electrospray ionization (ESI) source coupled with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. A systematic comparison approach of two sample preparation procedures was performed. In particular, the matrix effect on mass spectrometry response in rat and human plasma samples was studied by comparing sample extracts obtained by means of a conventional plasma protein precipitation with acetonitrile and the novel HybridSPE-Precipitation procedure. The HybridSPE dramatically reduced the levels of residual phospholipids in biological samples, leading to significant reduction in matrix effects. This new procedure which combines the simplicity of precipitation with the selectivity of SPE allows to obtain much cleaner extracts than with conventional procedures. The effective targeted removal of phospholipids and proteins in biological plasma samples achieved with the HybridSPE-Precipitation procedure provides significant improvement in bioanalysis and a practical and fast way to ensure the avoidance of phospholipids-based matrix effects.