Fast NMR evaluation of lipids in human tissues

1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy was used to evaluate the degree of unsaturation and the cholesterol/cholesteryl ester ratio on the total lipid fractions obtained from human renal and cerebral tissues. The unsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio was determined in the 13C NMR spectra from the ratio of the integrated areas of the resonances at 14.13 and 14.17 ppm assigned to the terminal methyl groups of saturated and unsaturated FA, respectively, and is validated by the traditional but time consuming gas-chromatographic analysis. Cholesteryl esters are easily discriminated in the total lipid fraction extracted from human tissues by means of the well-resolved component at 0.99 ppm (1H NMR spectra) of the resonance at about 1.00 ppm generally assigned to free cholesterol. The role of NMR spectroscopy in the study of lipidic biochemistry of human tissues is confirmed.