Quantitative Profiling of Lipid Species in Caenorhabditis elegans with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) enables sensitive detection and relative quantification of fatty acids. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the use of GC-MS can corroborate findings from common staining methodologies, providing great resolution on the lipid species altered in abundance in aging, genetic mutants, or with dietary or pharmacologic manipulation. Here we describe a method to quantitate relative abundance of fatty acids in total worm lipid extracts, as well as a method that quantitates fatty acids following separation into neutral lipid pools (triacylglycerols and cholesteryl esters) versus more polar lipids (phospholipids) by solid-phase extraction (SPE).