Evaluation of lipid extraction and fatty acid composition of human plasma

Abstract

Aim: The objective of this study was to compare the efficiency of lipid extraction and to evaluate the fatty-acid composition in total lipids from human plasma, using a new technique and the established Folch, Lees and Stanley (FLS), Bligh and Dyer (BD), Rose-Gottlieb (RG), and Gerber (GM) methods. Method: A new technique, the alternative method, to extract total lipids using a microwave was proposed and evaluated. Results: The total lipids extracted from human plasma varied between 0.19% and 0.41%; the highest total lipid extracted were obtained by the Folch, Lees and Stanley (0.41%), alternative method (0.37%) and Rose-Gottlieb (0.36%) methods. The Gerber method was ineffective to extract total lipids from human plasma. A total of 24 fatty-acid species were quantified by gas chromatography. Of the methods studied, the highest concentrations were found using the Folch, Lees and Stanley method (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: The alternative method is a fast lipid-extraction technique that can be used for the identification of human plasma fatty acids, but it is not suitable for their measurement.