Simultaneous determination of PUFA-derived pro-resolving metabolites and pathway markers using chiral chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Lipid mediators play an important role as biological messengers involved in inflammatory processes. Deriving from different polyunsaturated fatty acids, endogenously built mediators featuring both pro- and anti-inflammatory properties as well as pro-resolving lipid mediators and their biological precursors have been investigated. A newly developed method using chiral chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry on human plasma has demonstrated its suitability for the simultaneous determination of prostaglandins, lipoxins, D-series derived resolvins as well as protectins, maresin 1, leukotriene B4 and several precursors of them in order to yield information about metabolic pathways. Due to the matrix complexity, a solid phase extraction method using an octadecyl-modified silica gel cartridge was carried out. The developed method allows the determination of 34 analytes in 25 min showing enough selectivity as well as precision and accuracy (≤15% relative standard deviation, ≤15% relative error) in the calibration range of 0.1–10 ng mL−1 or 0.2–20 ng mL−1 depending on the analytes. Stability of the analytes in plasma has been demonstrated for at least 3 h at room temperature, 72 h in the autosampler and 60 days in the freezer at −80 °C. This method has been validated and shown its suitability for the determination of all studied analytes in human plasma samples.