Quantitative determination of free D-Asp, L-Asp and N-methyl-D-aspartate in mouse brain tissues by chiral separation and Multiple Reaction Monitoring tandem mass spectrometry

PLoS One. 2017 Jun 29;12(6):e0179748. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179748. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Several studies have suggested that free d-Asp has a crucial role in N-methyl d-Asp receptor-mediated neurotransmission playing very important functions in physiological and pathological processes. This paper describes the development of an analytical procedure for the direct and simultaneous determination of free d-Asp, l-Asp and N-methyl d-Asp in specimens of different mouse brain tissues using chiral LC-MS/MS in Multiple Reaction Monitoring scan mode. After comparing three procedures and different buffers and extraction solvents, a simple preparation procedure was selected the analytes of extraction. The method was validated by analyzing l-Asp, d-Asp and N-methyl d-Asp recovery at different spiked concentrations (50, 100 and 200 pg/μl) yielding satisfactory recoveries (75-110%), and good repeatability. Limits of detection (LOD) resulted to be 0.52 pg/μl for d-Asp, 0.46 pg/μl for l-Asp and 0.54 pg/μl for NMDA, respectively. Limits of quantification (LOQ) were 1.57 pg/μl for d-Asp, 1.41 pg/μl for l-Asp and 1.64 pg/μl for NMDA, respectively. Different concentration levels were used for constructing the calibration curves which showed good linearity. The validated method was then successfully applied to the simultaneous detection of d-Asp, l-Asp and NMDA in mouse brain tissues. The concurrent, sensitive, fast, and reproducible measurement of these metabolites in brain tissues will be useful to correlate the amount of free d-Asp with relevant neurological processes, making the LC-MS/MS MRM method well suited, not only for research work but also for clinical analyses.

Publication types

  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Aspartic Acid / metabolism*
  • Brain / metabolism*
  • Chromatography, Liquid
  • Limit of Detection
  • Mice
  • N-Methylaspartate / metabolism*
  • Reference Standards
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Stereoisomerism
  • Tandem Mass Spectrometry / methods*

Substances

  • Aspartic Acid
  • N-Methylaspartate

Grants and funding

The research was supported in part by a grant from the Italian Ministry of Health (Call Giovani Ricercatori 2009, project: GR-2009-1605759; http://www.salute.gov.it). There was no additional external funding received for this study.