No abstract

Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-mass spectrometry (APCI-MS) was used for quantitative analysis of triglycerides (TG) separated by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. APCI-MS was used for analysis of mono-acid TG standards containing deuterated internal standard, of a synthetic mixture of heterogeneous TG, of randomized and normal soybean oils and of randomized and normal lard samples. Quantitation of the TG by four approaches based on APCI-MS were compared, and these were compared to quantitation obtained using liquid chromatography (LC) with flame-ionization detection (FID). The APCI-MS methods were based on (i) calibration curves from data for mono-acid TG standards, (ii) response factors obtained from a synthetic mixture of TG, (iii) response factors calculated from comparison of randomized samples to their statistically expected compositions, and (iv) response factors calculated from comparison of fatty acid (FA) compositions calculated from TG compositions to FA compositions obtained by calibrated gas chromatography (GC) with FID. Response factors derived from a synthetic mixture were not widely applicable to samples of disparate composition. The TG compositions obtained using APCI-MS data without application of response factors had average relative errors very similar to those obtained using LC-FID. Numerous TG species were identified using LC/APCI-MS which were undetected using LC-FID. Two quantitation methods, based on response factors calculated from randomized samples or on response factors calculated from FA compositions, both gave similar results for all samples. The TG compositions obtained using response factors calculated from FA compositions showed less average relative error than was obtained from LC-FID data, and were in good agreement with predicted compositions for the synthetic mixture and for randomized soybean oil and lard samples.

The effect of dietary docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3, DHA) on the metabolism of oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids was investigated in male subjects (n = 6) confined to a metabolic unit and fed diets containing 6.5 or <0.1 g/d of DHA for 90 d. At the end of the diet period, the subjects were fed a mixture of deuterated triglycerides containing 18:1n-9[d6], 18:2n-6[d2], and 18:3n-3[d4]. Blood samples were drawn at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 24, 48, and 72 h. Methyl esters of plasma total lipids, triglycerides, phospholipids, and cholesterol esters were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Chylomicron triglyceride results show that the deuterated fatty acids were equally well absorbed and diet did not influence absorption. Compared to the low-DHA diet (LO-DHA), clearance of the labeled fatty acids from chylomicron triglycerides was modestly higher for subjects fed the high DHA diet (HI-DHA). DHA supplementation significantly reduced the concentrations of most n-6[d2] and n-3[d4] long-chain fatty acid (LCFA) metabolites in plasma lipids. Accumulation of 20:5n-3[d4] and 22:6n-3[d4] was depressed by 76 and 88%, respectively. Accumulations of 20:3n-6[d2] and 20:4n-6[d2] were both decreased by 72%. No effect of diet was observed on acyltransferase selectivity or on uptake and clearance of 18:1n-9[d6], 18:2n-6[d2], and 18:3n-3[d4]. The results indicate that accumulation of n-3 LCFA metabolites synthesized from 18:3n-3 in typical U.S. diets would be reduced from about 120 to 30 mg/d by supplementation with 6.5 g/d of DHA. Accumulation of n-6 LCFA metabolites synthesized from 18:2n-6 in U.S. diets is estimated to be reduced from about 800 to 180 mg/d. This decrease is two to three times the amount of n-6 LCFA in a typical U.S. diet. These results support the hypothesis that health benefits associated with DHA supplementation are the combined result of reduced accretion of n-6 LCFA metabolites and an increase in n-3 LCFA levels in tissue lipids.

This paper deals with the reanalysis of serum lipids from previous studies in which deuterated fatty acids were administered to a single person. Samples were reanalyzed to determine if the deuterated fatty acids were converted to deuterium-labeled conjugated linoleic acid (CLA, 9c,11t-18:2) or other CLA isomers. We found 11-trans-octadecenoate (fed as the triglyceride) was converted (delta9 desaturase) to CLA, at a CLA enrichment of ca. 30%. The 11-cis-octadecenoate isomer was also converted to 9c,11c-18:2, but at <10% the concentration of the 11t-18:1 isomer. No evidence (within our limits of detection) for conversion of 10-cis- or 10-trans-octadecenoate to the 10,12-CLA isomers (delta12 desaturase) was found. No evidence for the conversion of 9-cis,12-cis-octadecadienoate to CLA (via isomerase enzyme) was found. Although these data come from four single human subject studies, data from some 30 similar human studies have convinced us that the existence of a metabolic pathway in one subject may be extrapolated to the normal adult population.