An efficient blood plasma clean-up method was developed, where methanol protein precipitation was applied, followed by zirconium silicate assisted exclusion of residual proteins. A strong binding of zirconium (IV) silicate to the proteins enabled the elimination of remaining proteins after solvent deproteinization through a rapid solid-phase extraction (SPE) procedure. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI/TOF MS) was used for monitoring the proteins during clean-up practice applied to human plasma samples. The proteins were quantified by colorimetric detection using the bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay. The presented analytical strategy resulted in the depletion of >99.6% proteins from human plasma samples. Furthermore, high-performance liquid chromatography hyphenated to diode-array and electrospray ionization mass spectrometric detection (HPLC-DAD/ESI MS) was applied for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the caffeoylquinic acids (CQAs) and their metabolites in human plasma. The procedure demonstrated high recoveries for the standard compounds spiked at different concentrations. Cynarin and chlorogenic acid were recovered in the range of 81-86% and 78-83%, respectively. Caffeic acid was extracted in the excess of 89-92%, while ferulic acid and dihydroxyhydrocinnamic acid showed a recovery of 87-91% and 92-95%, respectively. The method was partially validated in accordance with FDA-Industry Guidelines for Bioanalytical Method Validation (2001). The presented scheme improves the clean-up efficacy of the methanol deproteinization, significantly reduces the matrix effects and provides a great analytical tool for the isolation of small molecules from human plasma.
Keywords: Caffeoylqinic acids; Human plasma; Protein precipitation; Solid-phase extraction; Zirconium silicate.
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