Connecting the Dots: Bridging Microsamples and Conventional Blood Matrices in Metabolic Biomarker Analysis

Bridging the gap between microsampling techniques and standard blood matrices presents a groundbreaking opportunity in metabolic biomarker analysis, offering minimally invasive, patient-centric alternatives to traditional venipuncture. This review presents the current knowledge obtained from the comparison of biomarkers analysis in liquid blood, plasma or serum in parallel to blood microsamples by targeted and untargeted metabolic profiling assays. It aims to explore the analytical performance of these approaches compared to conventional blood collection, emphasizing its efficacy in the field. Key challenges such as haematocrit effect and validation studies which are necessary steps for standardization and widespread clinical adoption are pointed out through examples in different applications. This review underscores the critical steps to employ the full potential of microsampling technologies for their integration in metabolic biomarker discovery and clinical diagnostics.