Online Isotope Analysis of Sulfur in Proteins via Capillary Electrophoresis Coupled With Multicollector ICP-MS (CE/MC-ICP-MS): A Proof of Concept Study

Isotope ratio analysis of sulfur in biological samples using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has gained significant interest for applications in quantitative proteomics. Advancements like coupling separation techniques with multicollector ICP-MS (MC-ICP-MS) enhance the throughput of species-specific sulfur isotope ratio measurements, fostering new avenues for studying sulfur metabolism in complex biological matrices. This proof-of-concept study investigates the feasibility of online CE/MC-ICP-MS for directly analyzing sulfur isotope ratios in proteins (albumin). Leveraging our previous work on the applicability of CE/ICP-MS for quantifying sulfur-containing biological molecules, we explore its potential for sulfur isotope analysis. Our results demonstrate that direct analysis of sulfur isotopes in albumin protein using online capillary electrophoresis MC-ICP-MS (CE/MC-ICP-MS) eliminates the need for laborious pretreatment steps, while yielding isotope ratios comparable to the reference values. Although initial precision can be improved through further system optimization and protein injection techniques, this approach paves the way for future analysis of mixtures of various biological compounds in, for example, clinical diagnosis studies.