Simultaneously quantitative measurement of comprehensive profiles of esterified and non-esterified fatty acid in plasma of type 2 diabetic patients

Fatty acids, having intimate relationship with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), are not only the main energy source as nutrients, but also signaling molecules in insulin secretion. In this work, we developed a two-step rapid method to comprehensive profiling of esterified fatty acid (EFA) and non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) using KOH–CH₃OH to methylate EFA followed by H₂SO₄–CH₃OH to methylate NEFA. Its applications to fatty acids profiling of type 2 diabetic patients and health controls were also presented. The t-test results informed that 16 NEFAs and 7 EFAs had distinct differences between type 2 diabetes and health controls. Furthermore, quantitative alterations of fatty acids in plasma of type 2 diabetic patients treated with rosiglitazone were obtained by this method. Our research results indicated that the dynamic changes of NEFAs are various. Some decreased linearly, such as C18:0, C18:3n-6 and C22:6, and some changed nonlinearly, such as C18:3n-3 and C22:4. All results informed that fatty acid profiles could provide comprehensive and accurate information for not only discrimination between DM2 patients and health controls, but also evaluation alterations of fatty acids during therapeutic process.