title: Fatty acid profiling of blood cell membranes by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry.
abstract: Fatty acids, which are well-known for their influence on human metabolism and signal transduction, are also a substantial component of cellular membranes and regulate the basic properties and functions of membranes. Owing to their multiple functions, fatty acid profiles of cell membranes are of great interest to those who are studying the relationship between membrane biochemical compositions and functions. A HCl-catalyzed derivation method and a gas chromatography with mass spectrometry analysis method were developed to accurately profile the fatty acids in cell membranes of erythrocytes, leukocytes, and platelets. The detection limits of all 35 fatty acids ranged from 0.58 to 22 ng/mL and the limits of quantitation were between 2.1 and 72 ng/mL. Finally, the established method was used to profile the membrane fatty acids of 44 healthy volunteers from the north and south of China. Results revealed significant differences in the fatty acid profiles from the two regions, particularly those of the erythrocytes. This technique may be applied to cell membrane studies to generate new biological hypotheses concerning fatty acid composition and membrane functions as well as to construct related disease profiles.
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zequn
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-Products, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zehao
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China. xinsu@mail.buct.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Changyuan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D004910:Erythrocyte Membrane / Q000737:chemistry*; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids
keywords: Blood cell membranes; Derivatization; Fatty acids; Gas chromatography with mass spectrometry