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Updated: Mar 22, 2026

Cellular Lipid Extraction for Targeted Stable Isotope Dilution Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Analysis
Published on: November 17, 2011
Simultaneous quantitative profiling of 20 isoprostanoids from omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids by
Aude Dupuy1, Pauline Le Faouder2, Claire Vigor3
1MetaToul-Lipidomic Core Facility, MetaboHUB, Inserm U1048, Toulouse, France; Institut des Maladies Métaboliques et Cardiovasculaires, Inserm U1048, Toulouse, France.
Abstract:
Isoprostanoids are a group of non-enzymatic oxygenated metabolites of polyunsaturated fatty acids. It belongs to oxylipins group, which are important lipid mediators in biological processes, such as tissue repair, blood clotting, blood vessel permeability, inflammation and immunity regulation. Recently, isoprostanoids from eicosapentaenoic, docosahexaenoic, adrenic and α-linolenic namely F3-isoprostanes, F4-neuroprostanes, F2-dihomo-isoprostanes and F1-phytoprostanes, respectively have attracted attention because of their putative contribution to health. Since isoprostanoids are derived from different substrate of PUFAs and can have similar or opposing biological consequences, a total isoprostanoids profile is essential to understand the overall effect in the testing model. However, the concentration of most isoprostanoids range from picogram to nanogram, therefore a sensitive method to quantify 20 isoprostanoids simultaneously was formulated and measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The lipid portion from various biological samples was extracted prior to LC-MS/MS evaluation. For all the isoprostanoids LOD and LOQ, and the method was validated on plasma samples for matrix effect, yield of extraction and reproducibility were determined. The methodology was further tested for the isoprostanoids profiles in brain and liver of LDLR(-/-) mice with and without docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation. Our analysis showed similar levels of total F2-isoprostanes and F4-neuroprostanes in the liver and brain of non-supplemented LDLR(-/-) mice. The distribution of different F2-isoprostane isomers varied between tissues but not for F4-neuroprostanes which were predominated by the 4(RS)-4-F4t-neuroprostane isomer. DHA supplementation to LDLR(-/-) mice concomitantly increased total F4-neuroprostanes levels compared to F2-isoprostanes but this effect was more pronounced in the liver than brain.

