Serum or plasma, what is the difference? Investigations to facilitate the sample material selection decision making process for metabolomics studies and beyond

Abstract In analytical chemistry serum as well as plasma are recommended as sample material of choice. However, blood processing for the generation of serum or plasma is rather different. Whether plasma or serum is the preferable sample material is still controversial discussed. We performed in paired samples three UHPLC-mass spectrometry-driven metabolomics studies. In study 1 metabolite profiles of serum vs plasma were compared. 46% out of 216 identified metabolites showed significant different levels (paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p