Lipid profiling of lipoproteins by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

Lipoproteins are of fundamental importance for the lipid transport and cardiovascular disease. The function and metabolism of lipoproteins is intimately linked to the biophysical properties of their surface lipids. Although a number of disease associations were found for lipid species in plasma, only a few studies reported lipid profiles of lipoproteins. Here, we provide an overview of techniques for lipoprotein separation, methods for lipid species analysis based on electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) as well as data from recent lipidomic studies on lipoprotein fractions. We also discuss the different analytical strategies and how lipid profiling can expand our understanding of the biology and structures of lipoproteins. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Lipodomics and Imaging Mass Spectrometry. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.