Simultaneous lipidomic analysis of three families of bioactive lipid mediators leukotrienes, resolvins, protectins and related hydroxy-fatty acids by liquid chromatography/electrospray tandem mass spectrometry.

Abstract

Bioactive lipid mediators derived from polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and exhibit a range of tissue and cell-specific activities in many physiological and pathological processes. Electrospray tandem mass spectrometry coupled to liquid chromatography (LC/ESI-MS/MS) is a sensitive, versatile analytical methodology for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of lipid mediators. Here we present an LC/ESI-MS/MS assay for the simultaneous analysis of twenty mono- and poly-hydroxy fatty acid derivatives of linoleic, arachidonic, eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids. The assay was linear over the concentration range 1-100 pg/¿L, whilst the limits of detection and quantitation were 10-20 and 20-50 pg respectively. The recovery of the extraction methodology varied from 76-122% depending on the metabolite. This system is useful for profiling a range of biochemically-related potent mediators including the newly discovered resolvins and protectins, and their precursor hydroxy-eicosapentaenoic and hydroxy-docosahexaenoic acids, and, consequently, advance our understanding of the role of PUFA in health and disease.