Application of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry to measure short chain fatty acids in blood

A new liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry method is described to determine concentrations of the short chain fatty acids acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid (SCFAs) in human blood plasma. The method is based on reversed phase chromatography followed by post-column neutralization of the mobile phase with ammonia and a consecutive measurement of the SCFAs ammonia adducts using negative electro spray ionization. Sample preparation involved simple organic acid deproteinization, resulting in 100% recovery. SCFAs eluted baseline separated within a 25 min run cycle. A linear response was obtained in the range between 0 and 250 μmol/l (R² ranged from 0.997 to 0.9999). The limit of detection ranged from 0.05 μmol/l for propionic and butyric acid and 0.1 μmol/l for acetic acid. The method was tested by analyzing plasma of arterial blood, from portal vein and hepatic vein blood from patients undergoing a pylorus-preserving pancreaticoduodenectomy. As expected, the highest SCFA concentrations were found in portal plasma, hepatic vein levels were in between, while arterial concentrations were lowest. This newly developed method is suitable to determine SCFA concentrations in human plasma samples.