Novel “Matrix-Corrected Calibration” study for the detection of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in plasma and erythrocytes by means of a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry approach optimized to follow up long-term parental patients

• Published in: Journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis 2019-11, Vol.176, p.112764-112764, Article 112764
• Main Authors: Manca, Alessandra, Alladio, Eugenio, Casalini, Veronica, Puccinelli, M. Paola, Massarenti, Paola, Pazzi, Marco, Aprile, Silvio, De Francesco, Antonella, Mengozzi, Giulio, D’Avolio, Antonio
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Calibration; Drug Monitoring - methods; Drug Monitoring - standards; Erythrocytes - chemistry; Fat Emulsions, Intravenous - administration & dosage; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated - administration & dosage; Fatty Acids, Unsaturated - blood; Female; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - methods; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - standards; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Parenteral Nutrition - methods; Pilot Projects; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0731-7085; 1873-264X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpba.2019.07.012

[Display omitted] •A GC–MS method to quantify specific polyunsaturated fatty acids was fully-validated.•3 polyunsaturated fatty acids are detected in plasma and in erythrocyte membranes.•Optimal validation results, fulfilling ISO 17025:2017 standards too, were achieved.•A Matrix-Corrected Calibration study on the GC–MS quantification was performed.•A pilot study on patients treated with different supplementations was made. An accurate and specific gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was optimized to quantify specific polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in plasma and in erythrocyte membranes for clinical purposes. The developed and fully-validated method showed optimal linearity in addition to adequate results in terms of accuracy, intra-day and inter-day precision. By adopting the Matrix-Corrected Calibration approach on all the biological matrices tested, both the constant and the proportional errors of the developed analytical methodology were considered to assure that the method was not affected by matrix bias. Moreover, a pilot study involving patients in parental nutrition with two different compositions of the administered fat emulsion was performed. The comparison of results obtained in these patients with a group of healthy subjects (i.e. control population) showed significant differences in the collected values of PUFAs in both plasma and erythrocyte membranes, thus providing evidence that the described GC-MS method could be employed as a simple tool for fast and accurate PUFAs analysis aimed at optimizing parenteral nutrition protocols.