Quantification of D-mannose in plasma: Development and validation of a reliable and accurate HPLC-MS-MS method

The present paper describes the development and the validation process – in compliance with the EMA guidelines – of a method based on tandem mass spectrometry coupled to liquid chromatography for the accurate quantification of mannose in human plasma samples. The quick sample preparation procedure, simplified by the absence of any derivatization step, makes the assay suitable for routine use in a clinical chemistry laboratory. The method validation yielded satisfactory selectivity, with a good separation of mannose from its epimers (glucose and galactose), linearity over the whole concentration range of interest (0.31–40 μg/mL), reproducibility with RSD <10%, and accuracy in the range 96 – 104%. Instrumental LLOD (0.31 μg/mL) and LLOQ (1.25 μg/mL) were good enough to detect endogenous plasma mannose levels and in agreement with recent data from the literature. Sensitivity was affected by a 5-fold dilution factor, which, if necessary, can be reduced. The method robustness was proven in more than 600 injections, most of them being of plasma samples, used also to assess the reference ranges in healthy subjects (9.93 ± 3.37 µg/mL) and type 2 diabetic patients (23.47 ± 6.19 µg/mL).