Serum or Plasma samples? it matters for Amino Acid levels!

While amino acids play essential roles in several metabolic pathways, the quantification of free amino acids in biological fluids has provided important information in many pathophysiological contexts, including metabolic deficiencies, liver (1) and renal (2) failures, cancer (3), diabetes (4), muscle dysfunction, and Alzheimer’s disease (5).

Nevertheless, because amino acid quantification in serum or plasma and its translation at the clinical stage, particularly, can be challenging due to the complexities of these matrices, it’s critical to master the assay robustness as well as to consider the importance of the nature of the sample matrix.

Taking advantage of our robust and easy-to-implement ELISA kits, we quantified several amino acids, namely L-Arginine (#IS-I-0400), L-Glutamine (#IS-I-1100), L-Lysine (#IS-I-1400), L-Phenylalanine (#IS-I-1700), L-Serine (#IS-I-1200) and L-Tryptophan (#BA-E-2700) in matched plasma-serum samples obtained from eight healthy donors. Interestingly, while for two amino acids – Glutamine and Tryptophan – levels are similar in both matrices, Arginine, Lysine and Serine have lower levels in plasma than in serum. Conversely, Phenylalanine is higher in plasma than in serum. Altogether, this dataset highlights the importance of the sample matrix for the quantification of amino acids and derivatives, which must be considered for clinical investigations

Special offer on a selection of Amino Acid ELISA kits

Valid until March 10, 2022

(1) https://doi.org/10.1097/00075197-199901000-00009

(2) https://doi.org/10.1016/s0272-6386(12)80371-4

(3) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0024143

(4) https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-018-1108-3

(5) https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/80.2.483