Simultaneous determination and quantification of seven major phospholipid classes in human blood using normal-phase liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray mass spectrometry and the application in diabetes nephropathy

A rapid and specific analytical method for simultaneous determination and quantification of seven major phospholipid classes in human blood was developed by normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The optimal separation was achieved by using mobile phase hexane (A) and 2-propanol with water, formic acid and ammonia as modifiers (B) using an HPLC diol column. Isocratic elution method was used for better repeatability and no balance time. The seven major phospholipid classes in human blood that were detected including phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), phosphatidylinositol (PI) phosphatidylcholine (PC), lysophosphatidylcholine (Lyso-PC), and sphingomyelin (SM). That can be separated in this condition. Every phospholipid class contains many molecular species which have similar structure. The structure of phospholipids molecular species was identified by ion-trap MS(n) which produced ion fragments. And the qualification was completed by TOF-MS which shows good accuracy. Through the accurate quantification of one representative phospholipids molecule in each class, a method for simultaneous estimation hundreds of molecular species in seven major classes was established. The intra-day and inter-day precision and recovery had been investigated in detail. The RSD of precision for most compound is below 8% and RE is below 10%. Recovery is almost over 80%. This method was applied to phospholipids disorder related with diabetes nephropathy successfully. The concentrations of most phospholipids for normal people are higher than that for diabetic nephropathy (DN) patients in three phases. For most of phospholipids, with the development of DN the concentration was decreasing.     

High-performance liquid chromatography separation of phospholipid classes and arachidonic acid on cyanopropyl columns

An HPLC method for the separation and analysis of arachidonic acid and eight phospholipid classes is described: phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, cardiolipin, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin, and 2-lysophosphatidylcholine. The separation is carried out at 60 degrees C on 2 cyanopropyl columns using a gradient of acetonitrile and 5 mM sodium acetate (pH 5.0). Cyanopropyl columns require a lower proportion of water in the mobile phase to elute the more polar phospholipids than other types of columns and are thus less prone to equilibration problems. The method is highly reproducible (average coefficient of variation for each retention time less than or equal to 3.5%) and permits analysis of peaks by phosphorus content. Data obtained by analyzing lipid extracts from rat alveolar macrophages prelabeled with [G-3H]-arachidonic acid were analyzed by this HPLC method and compared to standard analysis by TLC. There was a significant correlation between the radioactivity profiles obtained with the two chromatographic methods (HPLC versus TLC) by linear regression analysis [HPLC = 0.83 (TLC) + 3.58, n = 25, r = 0.95, P less than 0.001].     

Compositional and molecular species analysis of phospholipids by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with chemical ionization mass spectrometry

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was combined with chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) by the use of a moving-belt interface. The technique was employed for the analysis of naturally occurring phospholipids. Positive and negative ion mass spectra of various phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylglycerol, and sphingomyelin were obtained in the chemical ionization mode with ammonia or methane as the reagent gas. Specific ions for individual phospholipid "bases" were identified. These ions were used in specific ion monitoring of the phospholipids during HPLC-CIMS. CIMS of each phospholipid also provided extensive information on the molecular species of the individual class of phospholipids. Relative abundance of different molecular species of each phospholipid as determined by CIMS agreed well with the results obtained by gas-liquid chromatography. Rat brain phospholipids were analyzed by HPLC-CIMS in about 15 minutes. Routinely, about 5 micrograms of individual phospholipid was analyzed by HPLC-CIMS, however, with specific ion monitoring the method provides a detection capability at the subnanogram level.     

Bacterial phospholipid molecular species analysis by ion-pair reversed-phase HPLC/ESI/MS

This work set out to optimize the detection and separation of several phospholipid molecular species on a reversed-phase column with the use of an electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry-compatible counter-ion. An application of this technique concerned a qualitative and quantitative analysis of bacterial membrane phospholipids extracted from Corynebacterium species strain 8. The phospholipid classes of strain 8 were identified as phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, diphosphatidylglycerol, and a peculiar lipid compound, acyl phosphatidylglycerol. Most of the molecular species structures were elucidated, and regarding phosphatidylglycerol, the fatty acid positions were clearly determined with the calculation of the sn-2/sn-1 intensity ratio of the fatty acyl chain fragments.     

Phospholipid metabolism in the brown alga, Fucus serratus

The metabolism of phospholipids in the brown alga, Fucus serratus was studied. The major phospholipids of this alga are phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, cardiolipin and phosphatidylcholine. When the time-course of labelling of the lipids from [³²P] orthophosphate was studied, total labelling was approximately linear for 8 hr. All the major classes of phospholipid were labelled. The extent and pattern of labelling were not affected by the presence of proteins synthesis inhibitors phosphatidic acid was highly labelled at short time intervals. Phosphatidylcholine was relatively poorly labelled. The extent and pattern of labelling were not affected by the presence of protein synthesis inhibitors indicating that the enzymes involved in phospholipid synthesis have a rather slow turnover. Incorporation of radioactivity into phosphatidylglycerol was stimulated significantly by light.     

Phospholipids of Clostridium perfringens: a reexamination

We have identified phosphatidylethanolamine as one of the major phospholipids of Clostridium perfringens by two dimensional thin layer chromatography of the intact lipids and of their deacylation products and by liquid chromatography followed by mass spectrometry of the intact neutral phospholipid fraction. The principal fatty acids of phosphatidylethanolamine are myristic acid (14:0), lauric acid (12:0), and palmitic acid (16:0) and the major molecular species are 14:0,14:0 (26.3%); 12:0,14:0 (19.0%); 14:0,16:0 (22.4%) and 16:0,16:0 (17.6%). A similar distribution of molecular species was found in the other major phospholipid, O-alanyl phosphatidylglycerol.     

Structural characterization of neutral glycosphingolipids using high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry with a repeated high-speed polarity and MS<Superscript>n</Superscript> switching system

Four types of neutral glycosphingolipids (LacCer, Gb₃Cer, Gb₄Cer, and IV³αGalNAc-Gb₄Cer; 10 pmol each) were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-electrospray ionization quadrupole ion trap time-of-flight (ESI-QIT-TOF) mass spectrometry (MS) with a repeated high-speed polarity and MSⁿ switching system. This system can provide six types of mass spectra, including positive and negative ion MS, MS², and MS³ spectra, within 1 s per cycle. Using HPLC with a normal-phase column, information on the molecular weights of major molecular species of four neutral glycosphingolipids was obtained by detecting [M+Na]⁺ in the positive ion mode mass spectra and [M?H]^? in the negative ion mode mass spectra. Sequences of glycosphingolipid oligosaccharide were obtained in the negative ion MS² spectra. In addition, information on the ceramide structures was clearly obtained in the negative ion MS³ mass spectra. GlcCer molecular species were analyzed by HPLC-ESI-QIT-TOF MS with a reversed-phase column using 1 pmole of GlcCer. The structures of the seven molecular species of GlcCer, namely, d18:1-C16:0, d18:1-C18:0, d18:1-C20:0, d18:1-C22:0, d18:1-C23:0, d18:1-C24:1, and d18:1-C24:0, were characterized using positive ion MS and negative ion MS, MS², and MS³. The established HPLC-ESI-QIT-TOF MS with MSⁿ switching and a normal phase column has been successfully applied to the structural characterization of LacCer and Gb₄Cer in a crude mixture prepared from human erythrocytes.     

Rapid Profiling and Characterization of the Multicomponents from the Root and Rhizome of <i>Salvia miltiorrhiza</i> by Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Ion Mobility-Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry in Combination with Computational Peak Annotation Workflows

Herbal components characterization represents a challenging task because of the co-existing of multiple classes of naturally occurring compounds with wide spans of polarity, molecular mass, and the ubiquitous isomerism. The root and rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhiza have been utilized as a reputable traditional Chinese medicine Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix et Rhizoma (Dan-Shen) in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Herein, a dimension-enhanced ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/ion mobility/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry approach in combination with intelligent peak annotation workflows was established aimed to rapidly characterize the multicomponents from S. miltiorrhiza. Due to the sufficient optimization, satisfactory chromatography separation was enabled on an HSS T3 column within 33 min using 0.1% formic acid in water (A) and acetonitrile (B) as the mobile phase, while the data-independent HDMS^E in both the negative and positive electrospray ionization modes was utilized for the high-coverage MS² data acquisition. Streamlined automatic peak annotation by searching an in-house library (recording 198 known compounds) followed by the subsequent confirming steps (e.g., comparison with the reference compounds, fragmentation pathways analysis, and retention behavior comparison, etc.), allowed us to identify or tentatively characterize a total of 86 components (including 50 terpenoids, 21 phenolic acids, and 15 others) from S. miltiorrhiza. Importantly, three-dimensional structure information, such as the retention time, MS¹ and MS² data, and collision cross section (CCS), was provided, which can facilitate the more reliable characterization of herbal components.     

Negatively charged phospholipids and their position in the cholesterol affinity sequence

The effects of low concentrations of cholesterol in mixtures of a negatively charged phospholipid (phosphatidylserine or phosphatidylglycerol) and another phospholipid (phosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin or phosphatidylethanolamine) have been studied by differential scanning calorimetry. Only mixtures which showed a gel phase miscibility gap have been employed. It was demonstrated that in mixtures with phosphatidylethanolamine, cholesterol was preferentially associated with the negatively charged phospholipid, regardless whether this species represented the component with the high or with the low transition temperature in the mixture. In mixtures of a negatively charged phospholipid and phosphatidylcholine, cholesterol associated with the negatively charged phospholipid; when the phosphatidylcholine was the species with the low transition temperature, cholesterol had an affinity for the phosphatidylcholine and for the negatively charged phospholipid as well. Cholesterol, in a mixture of sphingomyelin with a high and phosphatidylserine with a low transition temperature, was preferentially associated with sphingomyelin.From these experiments it is concluded that phospholipids show a decrease in affinity for cholesterol in the following order: sphingomyelin ? phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylglycerol > phosphatidylcholine ? phosphatidylethanolamine.     

Altered phospholipid metabolism in a temperature-sensitive mutant of a thermophilic bacillus

The phospholipid metabolism of a temperature-sensitive mutant of a thermophilic bacillus was studied after the shift from a permissive (58°C) to a restrictive (65°C) growth temperature. During the short period of growth of the mutant at 65°C, the proportions of cardiolipin and its 3-acyl derivative (lyso-cardiolipin) increased, and the proportions of phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylethanolamine decreased on cell dry weight basis. In ³²P incorporation and turnover experiments, phosphatidylglycerol showed the most rapid uptake and loss of the label. Turnover of cardiolipin, limited to a short period, ceased 18 min after the shift, as did the turnover of phosphatidylethanolamine. In the absence of net phospholipid synthesis, there was a quantitative conversion of phosphatidylglycerol to cardiolipin and an increase in the proportion of lyso-cardiolipin. Chloramphenicol, added to the medium at the time of the shift, reduced the rate of phospholipid synthesis, prevented the increase in the proportions of cardiolipin and lyso-cardiolipin, and slowed the decrease in the proportions of the other two phospholipids. The results indicated a defect in the regulatory mechanism(s) of phospholipid metabolism in the mutant at the restrictive temperature.Nonstandard Abbreviations WT parental strain, thermophilic bacillus - TS-13 temperature-sensitive mutant of a thermophilic bacillus - CL cardiolipin - PG phosphatidylglycerol - PE phosphatidylethanolamine - l-CL lyso-cardiolipin     

Structure characterization and identification steroidal saponins from Ophiopogon japonicus Ker-Gawler (Liliaceae) by high-performance liquid chromatography with ion trap mass spectrometry

Introduction – Steroidal saponins are the main active constituents in Ophiopogon japonicus Ker‐Gawler (Liliaceae). However, because of their high polarity, non‐chromophores and low content in plants, steroidal saponins are difficult to be isolated from O. japonicus by conventional phytochemical methods. Objective – To develop a sensitive and rapid approach towards the structural analysis of steroidal saponins using HPLC/ESI‐MSⁿ. Methodology – The fragmentation behaviors of six known steroidal saponins in negative ESI‐MSⁿ were used to deduce their mass spectral fragmentation mechanisms. By using HPLC/ESI‐MSⁿ, the important structural information on aglycone types, sugar types and saccharide sequences can be obtained. Results – According to the HPLC retention behaviour, the molecular structural characteristics provided by multistage mass spectrometry spectra and the literature, a total of 8 steroidal saponins were tentatively identified or characterized in O. japonicus rapidly. Conclusion – This work has shown that HPLC‐ESI‐MSⁿ may be used as an effective and rapid method for the characterization and identification of steroidal saponins from O. japonicus. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Separation of phospholipid classes in sea urchin,paracentrotus lividus by high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for determination of major phospholipid classes in sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus is described. The separation was performed on a Tracer Extrasil SI 5 microm 25 x 0.4 cm column and an isocratic mobile phase of acetonitrile-methanol 85%-phosphoric acid (50:50:1.8, v/v). The HPLC method utilizes UV detection at 205 nm. Five phospholipids were identified and quantified: phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC) and sphingomyelin (SM). Fresh and canned samples were analyzed. Student's t-test showed no significant difference (P < or = 0.05) between the mean phospholipid contents of raw and canned sea urchin.     

Dimension-Enhanced Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography/Ion Mobility-Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry Combined with Intelligent Peak Annotation for the Rapid Characterization of the Multiple Components from Seeds of <i>Descurainia sophia</i>

The complex composition of herbal metabolites necessitates the development of powerful analytical techniques aimed to identify the bioactive components. The seeds of Descurainia sophia (SDS) are utilized in China as a cough and asthma relieving agent. Herein, a dimension-enhanced integral approach, by combining ultra-high performance liquid chromatography/ion mobility-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC/IM-QTOF-MS) and intelligent peak annotation, was developed to rapidly characterize the multicomponents from SDS. Good chromatographic separation was achieved within 38 min on a UPLC CSH C18 (2.1 × 100 mm, 1.7 μm) column which was eluted by 0.1% formic acid in water (water phase) and acetonitrile (organic phase). Collision-induced dissociation-MS² data were acquired by the data-independent high-definition MS^E (HDMS^E) in both the negative and positive electrospray ionization modes. A major components knockout strategy was applied to improve the characterization of those minor ingredients by enhancing the injection volume. Moreover, a self-built chemistry library was established, which could be matched by the UNIFI software enabling automatic peak annotation of the obtained HDMS^E data. As a result of applying the intelligent peak annotation workflows and further confirmation process, a total of 53 compounds were identified or tentatively characterized from the SDS, including 29 flavonoids, one uridine derivative, four glucosides, one lignin, one phenolic compound, and 17 others. Notably, four-dimensional information related to the structure (e.g., retention time, collision cross section, MS¹ and MS² data) was obtained for each component by the developed integral approach, and the results would greatly benefit the quality control of SDS.     

Determination of glycerolipid composition of rice and maize tissues using solid-phase extraction

Currently available techniques for the separation and characterization of different glycerolipids are complicated and/or time consuming. By modulating the stationary phase in a solid-phase extraction (SPE) manifold, efficient and rapid separation of plant membrane lipids was achieved. The glycerolipids from rice and maize tissues were separated into seven classes (monogalactosyldiacylglycerol, digalactosyldiacylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, sulphoquinovosyldiacylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylglycerol). The pigments present in the rice and maize leaves and rice stems were successfully removed from the total lipid extracts. Pigment-free plant tissue (rice roots) was also analysed. The fatty acid profile of each lipid class isolated by SPE agreed well with those obtained by other separation techniques. The recovery of glycerolipids was at least 87%.     

Lipids of Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli: structure and metabolism

The nature and quantity of the phospholipids of Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli K-12 have been examined. The main classes of phospholipids, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, and cardiolipin have been completely characterized. Four minor compounds have been detected: phosphatidylserine, phosphatidic acid, and two partially characterized lipids. The phospholipid composition of the two organisms is quite similar, the only difference is the absence of one of the minor components and a decreased level of all components in E. coli. A study of the turnover of the phosphate in the phospholipids demonstrated no turnover in phosphatidylethanolamine, a slow turnover in phosphatidylglycerol, and a slow turnover in cardiolipin with, possibly, a transfer of phosphate from phosphatidylglycerol to cardiolipin. The amino acid phenylalanine is shown to become incorporated intact into lipidic compounds which have been partially characterized. Methods for the isolation and separation of lipids have been examined for their utility with these bacteria.     

Separation and quantitation of phospholipids and lysophospholipids by high-performance liquid chromatography

We describe a comprehensive approach to the separation, quantitation, and characterization of phospholipids and lysophospholipids present in complex biological samples. The central feature is a normal-phase HPLC separation of individual phospholipid and lysophospholipid classes. In this single chromatographic step, phospholipids and lysophospholipids are separated and recovered for quantitation by organic phosphate assay and characterization by acyl-group composition. Recovery of phospholipids and lysophospholipids from HPLC averages 80-90%. Isolated phospholipid and lysophospholipid fractions are available for separation of individual molecular species by second-dimension reverse-phase HPLC and characterization of individual molecular species by mass spectrometry.     

Lipid components of the hydrocarbon assimilating yeast Candida lipolytica (strain 10).

The utilization of n-hexadecane by Candida lipolytica (stain 10) was studied with respect to the lipid content, phospholipid and fatty acid profiles resulting at various growth times. Thin layer chromatography of the lipid extracts showed quantitative changes in the different lipid classes. The phospholipid fraction obtained at each growth time was separated into 8 classes: lysophosphatidylcholine, sphingomyelin, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, glycophospholipid, phosphatidylglycerol, cardiolopin, and phosphatidic acid. Differences in the percentage fatty acid composition of the lipid extracts were observed at various stages of growth. The cellular fatty acids included palmitic, palmitoleic (35-52%), stearic, oleic, linoleic (26-39%), and pentadecanoic (2-12%) as major components. This indicates that fatty acid(s) of the same length as that of the substrate was the most abundant component, thus showing intact incorporation mechaism. Fatty acids having longer chain lengths were also formed in substantial amounts indicating C2 addition and beta-oxidation of the fatty acids formed in the yeast.     

An approach to the identification of molecular fractions of human erythrocyte phospholipids using HPLC with mass-spectrometric detection

A modified method for a single run separation and identification of the molecular species of different phospholipid classes in a complex extract has been proposed. It includes reverse phase HPLC with a mass spectrometric detection. This approach has been employed for the analysis of glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids of human erythrocytes and several ceramide fractions have been identified[L2], that were missed in previous studies employing similar methods. The proposed scheme of experiment decreased the number of procedures needed for a complete phospholipid profiling of the sample.     

Analysis of aminophospholipid molecular species by high performance liquid chromatography

A new method is described for the separation of individual molecular species of the aminophospholipids, phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylserine. Trinitrobenzene-sulfonic acid was used to derivatize both aminophospholipids and the derivatives were purified by thin-layer chromatography. A reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography technique was developed to separate and quantify individual molecular species based upon ultraviolet detection of the attached chromophore. The retention times of the molecular species on the C18 reversed-phase column were longer with increasing carbon chain length and decreasing degree of unsaturation of fatty acyl chain. The overall procedure allowed a quantitative recovery of the aminophospholipid species. The lower limit of detection was about 10 pmol and a linear response was observed in the range of 0.1-10 nmol of phospholipid. Using this method, we were able to separate and quantify trinitrophenyl-phosphatidylethanolamine molecular species of both subclasses (diacyl and alkenyl) from human red blood cells and rat brains. Separation of species was confirmed by gas-liquid chromatographic analysis of the fatty acid content of each peak and by thermospray liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. This new method provides a convenient and sensitive technique for studies of aminophospholipid molecular species composition. Furthermore, it appears to be a useful tool for the analysis of asymmetric distribution of these species in biological membranes.     

Occurrence of diacylglyceryltrimethylhomoserines and major phospholipids in some plants

Over 40 higher plant species were examined for the contents of total lipids, phospholipids, diacylglyceryl-N,N,N-trimethylhomoserine (DGTS), phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylglycerol (PG) by using micro-HPTLC. The results showed a wider range of plants containing betaine lipids. So, DGTS was found in some higher plant species, not studied earlier, belonging to Equisetophyta, Polypodiophyta; the lipid composition of many other species from Spermatophyta was also studied. It was demonstrated that more primitive plant species contained, as a rule, the betaine lipid DGTS. The quantitative data for the distribution of the main phospholipid classes PC, PE, and PG in various plant species and their tissues are given in this paper.