Development and validation of a liquid chromeatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for simultaneous quantification of medium‐ and long‐chain saturated fatty acids in hamster plasma samples

• Published in: Rapid communications in mass spectrometry 2022-06, Vol.36 (11), p.e9280-n/a
• Main Authors: Li, Fan, Zhang, Qingli, Tong, Yue, Jiang, Jianlan, Liu, Jia
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acceptance criteria; Calibration; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid - methods; Cricetinae; Diet; Fatty Acids; Hamsters; Humans; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Mathematical analysis; Molecular chains; Plasma; Recovery; Reproducibility of Results; Scientific imaging; Selectivity; Spectroscopy; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods
• ISSN: 0951-4198; 1097-0231
• DOI: 10.1002/rcm.9280

Rationale Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) are associated with many diseases in humans. Developing a reliable analytical method to analyze SFAs in plasma is essential to understand their biological activities. An ultrahigh‐performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC/MS/MS) method has been developed for the quantification of medium‐ and long‐chain SFAs (M/LCSFAs) in hamster plasma. Methods We compared three methods (DOLE, Folch and MTBE) for extracting M/LCSFAs from plasma. The M/LCSFA derivatives were separated using a C18 column. The method was validated and applied to analyze M/LCSFA concentrations in normal‐fat diet (NFD) and high‐fat diet (HFD) hamster plasma. Results Among the three extraction methods, the DOLE method had the highest extraction recovery and was simple to operate with a short incubation time. All of the calibration curves exhibited good linear relationships (r ≥ 0.9958). The results for selectivity, accuracy, precision, matrix effects and recovery were all within the acceptance criteria. In HFD hamster plasma, the concentration of M/LCSFAs with even‐carbon chain length was significantly increased. Conclusions A simple, robust and reproducible method for the simultaneous quantification of M/LCSFAs by UHPLC/MS/MS was developed and validated. The method gave successfully quantification of M/LCSFAs in plasma samples from NFD and HFD hamsters.