Study: Recent Advances in Preparation for Biological Samples

Scientists from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China recently reviewed media for biological sample preparation and analysis over the last five years, including how these techniques could be improved further. Their findings were published in the Journal of Chromatography A (1).

petri dishes with colonies of microorganisms in a biological laboratory | Image Credit: © luchschenF - stock.adobe.com

Analyzing biological samples is crucial for disease diagnosis and treatment, public safety, and forensic examination. As science and technology continue evolving, the methods and techniques used for analyzing biological samples improve as well, offering increasingly accurate and reliable data to support research and applications in the field. Currently, multiplex analytical techniques are used for both qualitative and quantitative assessments of biological samples, including electrochemistry, spectroscopy, chromatography, mass spectrometry, and immunoassay methods. That said, biological samples have highly complex compositions with various interfering components, brow molecular weight distributions, and varying content levels. As such, the most critical step in analyzing biological samples is sample preparation.

With proper pretreatment, target analytes in complex biological samples could be extracted, separated, purified, and enriched to obtain a pilot sample with a suitable state for analysis. Biological sample preparation has distinct characteristics to it unlike other processes; it is time-consuming and involves multiple steps, low-content target substances require more effective enrichment, biomolecules can lose activity when outside their physiological environment, and biomolecules are also sensitive to factors such as temperature, pH, and ion strength during the separation-purification process. There is no universal sample preparation method for biological analysis, with selection of methods depending on required separation and purity levels.

In this review article, the scientists focused on media produced for biological sample preparation and analysis over the last five years. This review initially summarizes frequently used media in biological sample preparation, such as porous organic frameworks, imprinted polymers, and bioactive media. From there, applications of media promoting different biological sample preparation were introduced, including body fluids (blood, saliva, sweat), solid samples (hair and tissues), and exhaled breath gas. Afterwards, they presented conclusions and outlooks on media promoting biological sample preparation.

According to the paper, if materials were introduced as high-performance sorbents, sample preparation performances could be significantly improved. These would offer improved extraction, selectivity, and sensitivity. Integrating these media into extraction technologies, like solid-phase extraction (SPE), micro-SPE (µSPE), solid-phase microextraction (SPME), and magnetic SPE (MSPE), can greatly enhance the performance of biological sample preparation, thus generating more accurate and reliable analytical results. Further, integrating media into on-line and all-in-one analysis would significantly improve the efficiency of biological sample preparation. In applying these media and methods were applied to various biological samples, the advancements made facilitate detection and quantification of various analytes, including drugs and metabolites, disease markers, and environmental migration pollutants.

Due to the significant nature differences over minor structural differences, a prominent topic of discussion has been using advanced media for the selective separation of trace chiral enantiomers with the subtle differences in biological samples. With continuous media development and refinement of sample preparation techniques, the field will be advanced further in due time. Artificial intelligence can also help with sample pretreatment, potentially causing significant improvements in medium design, automation of experiments, data analysis, and decision support, thus promoting development and innovation of sample pretreatment technology.

When these methods are integrated with emerging technologies, such as microfluidics and automation, more efficient, sensitive, and rapid analysis of biological samples will follow, bolstering advancements made in industries like healthcare and forensic science.

Reference

(1) Lai, H.; Li, G. Recent Progress on Media for Biological Sample Preparation. J. Chromatogr. A 2024, 1734, 465293. DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2024.465293