title: Quantification of fatty acids in the muscle of Antarctic fish Trematomus bernacchii by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry: Optimization of the analytical methodology.
abstract: This work presents data on the quantification of fatty acids (FAs, in terms of mass unit per tissue weight) in the muscle of Trematomus bernacchii, a key species in Antarctica, often used as bioindicator for contamination studies. Modifications in fatty acids content should be considered a useful biomarker to study how contaminants affect Antarctic biota. Until now, very few studies quantified fatty acids of muscle of T. bernacchii, and only as percentage of a single fatty acid on total lipids. To perform the quantification of fatty acids, we used an analytical method based on a fast microwave-assisted extraction of lipids from a lyophilized sample, a base-catalyzed trans-esterification of lipid extract to obtain Fatty Acids Methyl Esters (FAMEs), and a separation and identification of FAMEs by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. With the optimized and validated method, a fast and accurate separation of Fatty Acids Methyl Esters was performed in 43 min. The linearity was checked up to about 320 μg mL-1; limit of detection and limit of quantification are in the range 4-22 μg mL-1and 13-66 μg mL-1, respectively. The optimized method showed a good accuracy and precision. Major fatty acids were 14:0, 16:0, 16:1n7, 18:1n9, 18:1n7, 20:1n9, 20:5n3 and 22:6n3. Quantified FAs compute for about 47 mg g-1tissue dry weight (dw), with 9.1 ± 0.1 mg g-1dw of saturated FAs, 25.5 ± 0.1 mg g-1dw of mono-unsaturated FAs, and 12.2 ± 0.1 mg g-1dw of poly-unsaturated FAs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy. Electronic address: c.truzzi@univpm.it.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Truzzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Illuminati
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Annibaldi
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Antonucci
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131 Ancona, Italy.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scarponi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D004951:Esterification; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D009132:Muscles / Q000378:metabolism*; D010473:Perciformes / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids
keywords: Fatty acids quantification; Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; Lipid profile; Microwave-assisted extraction; Muscle; Trematomus bernacchii