In proteomics and peptidomics, ensuring reproducible, high-fidelity analysis of peptides is essential. Traditional liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) hardware and consumables are based on wetted surfaces made of stainless steel (SS) and polypropylene (PP), which increase the risk of non-specific binding between surfaces and target peptides, impacting recovery and reducing quantitative accuracy. Hence, the complex structures and variable polarity of biologically relevant peptides and proteins requires the wetted surfaces within LC-MS workflows to be carefully considered. Comparative studies on metabolic hormones show that consumables with glass-lined wetted surfaces significantly reduce peptide carryover and adsorption when compared to traditional materials including SS and PP.
Peptides were analysed at concentrations of 20 ng/ml across different surface materials and the resulting peak response was compared. Switching from conventional PP to glass-coated plates (Pure-Pass™), significantly reduced losses of peptide hormones pramlintide and glucagon over a 16-hour time course experiment. The standard PP surface not only resulted in a gradual concentration decline over time, but in an instantaneous loss of peptides. Further, incorporating a glass-lined LC column into the workflow increased peak sensitivity by 2~3-fold for the selected peptides.
Together, these findings highlight the impact of surface materials on LC-MS consumables for metabolic hormone analysis and demonstrate that incorporating glass-lined components throughout the sample workflow can significantly enhance sensitivity, reproducibility, and overall analytical performance in LC-MS workflows.