Profiling of acylcarnitines and sterols from dried blood or plasma spot by atmospheric pressure thermal desorption chemical ionization (APTDCI) tandem mass spectrometry

► Acylcarnitines and sterols are useful markers of metabolic changes in mammals. ► We summarize how these compounds have been in the past analyzed by MS. ► We describe some ambient ionization - MS (AMS) techniques able to analyze in situ solid samples. ► We describe our AMS method for sterols and acylcarnitines analysis in dried blood or plasma spot. ► Direct analysis of DBS by AMS represents a new approach for in situ metabolic profiling.