A Brief Review on Dried Blood Spots Applications in Drug Development

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DOI: 10.4103/2231-4040.197331

Dried blood spots (DBS) refers to a blood sampling technique where small volumes of blood are spotted on filter paper, dried and analyzed. The DBS sampling technique was first developed to screen newborn babies for the genetic metabolic disorder phenylketonuria. Recently, this technique has been applied to pharmacokinetic, therapeutic drug monitoring and toxico-kinetic studies to reduce expenses during drug development. The DBS sampling technique has several advantages over conventional blood or plasma sampling in that it is less invasive, relatively painless, less blood volumes, utilizes simple storage methods depending on analyte stability, minimizes shipping expenses, offers convenient sampling and the reduces risk of blood borne pathogens. DBS reported for biological molecule measurement and detection of various drugs like Acetaminophen, Fluconazole, Metformin and Valsartan. This method of blood collection is particularly suited for developing countries where cost cutting is important. DBS method requires a hole-punch from a core sample, extraction with a solvent and subsequent liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy (LC-MS), Laser absorption electrospray ionization (LAESI)-MS or immunoassay analysis. Disadvantages include requirements for assay development and validation as well as the relatively small volumes of sample. Present work describes the analytical concepts of DBS techniques along with DBS sample collection, processing and storage

Keywords: Dried blood spots, Therapeutic drug monitoring, LC-MS, LAESI-MS, Immunoassay analysis