The Flexible Microtube Plasma as Post-Ionization Source for Cholesterol in nano-Electrospray Mass Spectrometry

Cholesterol serves as a biomarker in clinical- and life-sciences. The determination of abnormal levels can indicate several types of human diseases. However, the low polarity of free cholesterol makes it hardly accessible by (nano) electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (nESI-MS). As novel approach, the flexible microtube plasma (FμTP) for post-ionization allows the determination of low-polar compounds like cholesterol in combination with nESI-MS. Focusing on the analytical performance, the activated post-ionization leads to an increased cholesterol signal by a factor of 22. The repeatability and long-term stability could be successful evaluated by using a complex liver extract. Via the method of standard addition, a linear dynamic range of 1.7 orders of magnitude, a minimum detectability of 3.71 mg/L and a high accuracy (deviation: − 8.11 %) is demonstrated proofing the FμTP-nESI-MS as an excellent approach for a derivatization-free determination of cholesterol without the necessity of high-resolution Orbitrap devices or enhanced MS acquisition-methods.