Relative Quantification of Stable Isotope Labeled Peptides Using a Linear Ion Trap-Orbitrap Hybrid Mass Spectrometer

The quantitative analysis of complex biological samples has emerged as a key research area in the field of proteomics. Although quantitative proteomic experiments remain challenging, these strategies have been greatly facilitated by the development of newer high-performance mass spectrometers. In this work, we have evaluated the use of the LTQ-Orbitrap, a hybrid mass spectrometer in which a linear ion trap is coupled to an Orbitrap mass analyzer, for quantitative analyses. By analyzing a range of yeast protein standards, we found that the high mass accuracy, high resolution, large ion capacity, and large dynamic range of the LTQ-Orbitrap led to as much as a 4-5-fold improvement in the number and quality of the peptide ratio measurements compared to similar analyses done on the LTQ. We also successfully quantified protein expression differences that occur in metabolically labeled rat synapses during brain development to further demonstrate the suitability of the LTQ-Orbitrap for the comparative analysis of complex tissue samples.