title: Determination of sex-based differences in serum γ-linolenic [corrected] acid and dihomo-γ-linolenic [corrected] acid using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.
abstract: Because serum unsaturated fatty acids can provide useful information on disease diagnosis, the simultaneous determination of several fatty acids in small volumes of human serum would be beneficial for clinical applications. In the present study, serum fatty acids were extracted with n-heptane/chloroform from 10μL of serum collected from 26 healthy Japanese subjects (11 men, ages 23-37 years; 15 women, ages 18-37 years) after deproteinization with perchloric acid, derivatization to their methyl ester using p-toluenesulfonic acid as an acid catalyst, and subsequent separation and measurement by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in the selected ion monitoring mode. Nine types of fatty acids (palmitoleic acid [PLA], oleic acid [OA], linoleic [corrected] acid [LA], γ-linolenic acid [GLA], α-linolenic acid [ALA], dihomo-GLA [DGLA], arachidonic acid [AA], eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA], and docosahexaenoic acid [DHA]) were analyzed in the serum within 35 min by GC-MS. The concentrations of these fatty acids in serum ranged from 3.64±0.38μM (GLA) to 413±26.3 μM (LA). Among these nine fatty acids, GLA and DGLA levels were significantly lower in women than in men (p=0.0034 and 0.0012, respectively), suggesting that there may be sex-based differences in the biosynthetic production or metabolic processes of GLA and DGLA in humans.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toho University, 2-2-1 Miyama, Funabashi-shi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Mayu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Onozato
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toho University, 2-2-1 Miyama, Funabashi-shi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Minami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishikiori
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toho University, 2-2-1 Miyama, Funabashi-shi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iizuka
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toho University, 2-2-1 Miyama, Funabashi-shi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ichiba
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Yokohama College of Pharmacy, 601 Matano-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 245-0066, Japan.
authors.forename: Kiyomi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sadamoto
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Toho University, 2-2-1 Miyama, Funabashi-shi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan. Electronic address: t-fukushima@phar.toho-u.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukushima
mesh_terms: D015126:8,11,14-Eicosatrienoic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D000328:Adult; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult; D017965:gamma-Linolenic Acid / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D017965:gamma-Linolenic Acid; D015126:8,11,14-Eicosatrienoic Acid
keywords: Dihomo-γ-linoleic acid; Human serum; Polyunsaturated fatty acid; Sex-based difference; γ-Linoleic acid