No abstract

No abstract

First studies on the occurrence of nitrated fatty acids in plasma of healthy subjects revealed basal concentrations of 600 nM for free/nonesterified nitro-oleic acid (NO(2)-OA) as measured by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). We recently showed by a gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) method the physiological occurrence of two isomers, i.e., 9-NO(2)-OA and 10-NO(2)-OA, at mean basal plasma concentrations of 880 and 940 pM, respectively. In consideration of this large discrepancy we modified our originally reported method by replacing solid-phase extraction (SPE) by solvent extraction with ethyl acetate and by omitting the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) step for a more direct detection and with the potential for lipidomics studies. Intra-assay imprecision and accuracy of the modified method in human plasma were 1-34% and 91-221%, respectively, for added NO(2)-OA concentrations in the range 0-3,000 pM. This method provided basal plasma concentrations of 306 +/- 44 pM for 9-NO(2)-OA and 316 +/- 33 pM for 10-NO(2)-OA in 15 healthy subjects. Nitro-arachidonic acid and nitro-linolenic acid were not detectable in the plasma samples. In summary, our studies show 9-NO(2)-OA and 10-NO(2)-OA as endogenous nitrated fatty acids in human plasma in the pM range; HPLC is recommendable as a sample clean-up step for reliable quantification of nitro-oleic acids by GC-MS/MS.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Objective: Endocannabinoid system (ECS) activation promotes obesity-associated metabolic disease. Increased dietary fat intake increases blood endocannabinoids and alters adipose and skeletal muscle ECS gene expression in human. Methods: Two weeks isocaloric low-(LFD) and high-fat diets (HFD) in obese (n 5 12) and normal-weight (n 5 17) subjects in a randomized cross-over study were compared. Blood endocannabinoids were measured in the fasting condition and after food intake using mass spectrometry. Adipose and skeletal muscle gene expression was determined using real-time RT-PCR. Results: Baseline fasting plasma endocannabinoids were similar with both diets. Anandamide decreased similarly with high-or low-fat test meals in both groups. Baseline arachidonoylglycerol plasma concentrations were similar between groups and diets, and unresponsive to eating. In subcutaneous adipose tissue, DAGL-a mRNA was upregulated and fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) and monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) mRNAs were down-regulated in obese subjects, but the diets had no influence. In contrast, the HFD produced pronounced reductions in skeletal muscle CB1-R and MAGL mRNA expression, whereas obesity did not affect muscular gene expression. Conclusions: Weight-neutral changes in dietary fat intake cannot explain excessive endocannabinoid availability in human obesity. Obesity and dietary fat intake affect ECS gene expression in a tissuespecific manner.

No abstract