Determination of the Serum Levels of Fatty Acid Fractions with Use of Lipoprotein Lipase Hydrolyzing Total Lipids

Abstract

N-3 eicosapentanoic acid is known to have potential antithrombolic and antiatherosclerotic actions. We established a new method using lipoprotein lipase hydrolyzing total lipids to determine the serum levels of the fatty acid fractions. After total lipids (glycerides, phospholipids and cholesterolesters) were hydrolyzed by the lipoprotein lipase for 2 hours at 37°, the released fatty acids were extracted by 1-4'olch reagent and methylesterized by BF3 methanol for 10 minutes at 50°, and injected into gas- chromatography. This new method could maintain the temperature in every step at a level low enough for the fatty acid of become biologically stable. Therefore, the reproducibility both in within-series and between-series of the fatty acid measurement was improved, which was also supported by a relatively low coefficient of variation (2-10% and 3-10%, n=10, respectively). Analytical recoveries of 500 pg fatty acids added to serum were 90.6-104.1%.