Determination of volatile fatty acids in plasma after ethanolic extraction

Abstract

A new rapid micro method for measuring plasma volatile fatty acids is described. The volatile fatty acids are extracted from plasma with ethanol in the presence of a known quantity of internal standard (sodium isobutyrate). After evaporation of the ethanolic solution of the sodium salts, the residue is dissolved in a dilute solution of orthophosphoric acid to permit analysis by g.l.c. A technique of g.l.c. analysis is described which permits the separation of all the volatile fatty acids from the other plasma constituents at temperatures below 100° C in 5 min. Steam distillation techniques are unsatisfactory when the acetic acid concentrations in the plasma are below 0.2 mM. Heating of a number of plasma constituents in acid conditions gives rise to acetic acid. The binding of volatile fatty acids to plasma proteins was studied; this binding is negligible for acetic acid, but increases with the length of the fatty acid carbon chain. The limits of use of the method and the physiological implications are discussed.