Analysis of fatty acid profile in plasma phospholipids by solid-phase extraction in combination with GC

Phospholipids are recognised as an important source and transport form for metabolically active fatty acids. Therefore, detailed analysis of fatty acid profiles in plasma phospholipids as marker for dietary habits or interventions gains more and more importance. Appropriate analytical methods described so far are either expensive or susceptible to handling errors. We developed a method to separate plasma phospholipids by acetone fractionation combined with SPE in order to analyse the fatty acid compositions in phospholipid fractions of human plasma by GC analysis. The method has been validated in order to be applied to the routinely performed analysis of the samples of patients who will be participating in a dietary supplement study. The method presented here was successfully validated and is stable, efficient and reproducible. It can be used in a routine fashion to deliver the fatty acid profile [palmitic acid (16:0), heptadecanoic acid (17:0), stearic acid (18:0), oleic acid (18:1n-9), linoleic acid (18:2n-6), linolenic acid (18:3n-3), arachidonic acid (20:4n-6), eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3)] in plasma phospholipid samples. Using a sample volume of 500 mu L, recovery of plasma phospholipids is 92 +/- 11%; LOQ is 2.2 mu g fatty acid/mL. A set of samples from cancer patients and healthy individuals was analysed and confirmed the applicability of the described method.