A Concise Review of Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry-Based Quantification Methods for Short Chain Fatty Acids as Endogenous Biomarkers

Abstract

Fatty acids are widespread naturally occurring compounds, and essential constituents for living organisms. Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) appeared as physiologically relevant metabolites for their involvement with gut microbiota, immunology, obesity, and other pathophysiological functions. This has raised the demand for reliable analytical detection methods in a variety of biological matrices. Here, we describe an updated overview of sample pretreatment techniques and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based methods for quantitative analysis of SCFAs in blood, plasma, serum, urine, feces and bacterial cultures. The present review incorporates various procedures and their applications to help researchers in choosing crucial parameters, such as pretreatment for complex biological matrices, and variables for chromatographic separation and detection, to establish a simple, sensitive, and robust quantitative method to advance our understanding of the role of SCFAs in human health and disease as potential biomarkers.

Lipidomic markers of obesity and their dynamics after bariatric surgery

“…Изменения в содержании короткоцепочечных ЖК связаны с потерей массы тела. Показано, что повышенный уровень ЖК с разветвленной цепью в плазме связан с повышением чувствительности к инсулину [75,76]. Снижение концентрации свободных ЖК в плазме крови после шунтирования желудка связано с уменьшением расстояния прохождения пищи в кишечнике и, соответственно, с уменьшением поглощения жира, нежели при лапароскопической рукавной гастрэктомии, где поверхность всасывания больше [77].…”

Determination of short-chain fatty acids as putative biomarkers of cancer diseases by modern analytical strategies and tools: a review

“…It is due to the broad scale of advantages such as compatibility with the biological samples, high sensitivity, possibility to obtain a spectral information allowing analyte characterization (i.e., unequivocal confirmation of identity), ease of use, widespread availability in clinical laboratories and relatively modest cost per sample analysis ( 165 , 166 ). The LC-MS approaches are more beneficial in comparison to GC-MS, because of minimization of the sample preparation procedure and broader application potential ( 167 ). A summary of some recent LC methods for SCFAs determination in various samples is presented in Table 3 .…”

A Chiral-LC-MS Method for the Simultaneous Quantification of Short-Chain Fatty Acids and D/L-Lactate in the Ruminal Fluid of Dairy Cows

“…Numerous methods have been reported over the past two decades for the quantification of SCFA in various matrices, and a number of recent reviews on this topic are available [ 3 , 4 ]. Although nuclear magnetic resonance and capillary electrophoresis have been implemented in SCFA analysis [ 3 ], GC and HPLC are by far the most widely used techniques.…”

“…LC-MS is increasingly being used in SCFA analysis owing to its faster sample preparation, greater sensitivity, as well as easier access to instruments [ 4 ]. Due to the inherently low MS response and poor peak shape of underivatized SCFA molecules, a derivatisation step is usually implemented before RP-LC-MS analysis [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”

“…Due to the inherently low MS response and poor peak shape of underivatized SCFA molecules, a derivatisation step is usually implemented before RP-LC-MS analysis [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ]. Several derivatisation reagents, such as 3-nitrophenylhydrazine (3-NPH), aniline, 2-picolylamine (PA), O-benzylhydroxylamine (O-BHA) and 4-acetoamido-7-mercapto-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (AABD-SH), have been reported in the literature [ 4 ], with the most widely adopted reagent being 3-NPH. Our previous study found that 3-NPH derivatisation is a simple procedure and affords a similar detection sensitivity for branched-chain and linear SCFA molecules present in bovine milk and serum [ 14 ].…”