The occurrence of methyl methoxystearate isomers in the methyl esters prepared from sheep perinephric fat

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-based analytical strategies for fatty acid analysis in biological samples

Fatty acids play critical roles in biological systems. Imbalances in fatty acids are related to a variety of diseases, which makes the measurement of fatty acids in biological samples important. Many analytical strategies have been developed to investigate fatty acids in various biological samples. Due to the structural diversity of fatty acids, many factors need to be considered when developing analytical methods including extraction methods, derivatization methods, column selections, and internal standard selections. This review focused on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS)-based methods. We reviewed several commonly used fatty acid extraction approaches, including liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase microextraction. Moreover, both acid and base derivatization methods and other specially designed methods were comprehensively reviewed, and their strengths and limitations were discussed. Having good separation efficiency is essential to building an accurate and reliable GC-MS platform for fatty acid analysis. We reviewed the separation performance of different columns and discussed the application of multidimensional GC for improving separations. The selection of internal standards was also discussed. In the final section, we introduced several biomedical studies that measured fatty acid levels in different sample matrices and provided hints on the relationships between fatty acid imbalances and diseases.

Preparation of fatty acid methyl esters for gas-liquid chromatography

A convenient method using commercial aqueous concentrated HCl (conc. HCl; 35%, w/w) as an acid catalyst was developed for preparation of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) from sterol esters, triacylglycerols, phospholipids, and FFAs for gas-liquid chromatography (GC). An 8% (w/v) solution of HCl in methanol/water (85:15, v/v) was prepared by diluting 9.7 ml of conc. HCl with 41.5 ml of methanol. Toluene (0.2 ml), methanol (1.5 ml), and the 8% HCl solution (0.3 ml) were added sequentially to the lipid sample. The final HCl concentration was 1.2% (w/v). This solution (2 ml) was incubated at 45 degrees C overnight or heated at 100 degrees C for 1-1.5 h. The amount of FFA formed in the presence of water derived from conc. HCl was estimated to be <1.4%. The yields of FAMEs were >96% for the above lipid classes and were the same as or better than those obtained by saponification/methylation or by acid-catalyzed methanolysis/methylation using commercial anhydrous HCl/methanol. The method developed here could be successfully applied to fatty acid analysis of various lipid samples, including fish oils, vegetable oils, and blood lipids by GC.

Quantitative determination of the fatty acid composition of human serum lipids by high-performance liquid chromatography

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the analysis of the fatty acid composition of human serum lipids with fluorescence detection was examined. Both free and total fatty acids extracted from serum were derivatized with 9-anthryldiazomethane and were analysed using methanol-water (94.7:5.3) as mobile phase. Twelve kinds of fatty acid were detected, both in the free and total fatty acids, and were well separated. Concentrations of individual fatty acids of serum lipids were estimated from an internal standard, heptadecanoic acid. The results correlated well with those from two other quantitative analyses. These results indicate that the high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of fatty acids is a reliable method for determining individual fatty acids of human serum lipids. The compositions of free fatty acids and total fatty acids of serum lipids were analysed and compared in 27 normal subjects, 27 diabetics, and 20 angina pectoris patients by this method.