Capillary gas chromatographic profiling of total long-chain fatty acids and cholesterol in biological materials

The profiling of total long-chain fatty acids and cholesterol in a variety of biological materials, using capillary gas chromatography with flame ionization detection, is described. The within-run precision and day-to-day precision for fifteen fatty acids and cholesterol in erythrocyte samples were investigated. Quantitative data on the analysis of amniotic fluid samples collected from women in the 30th to 38th week are given together with a correlation study on their lecithin/sphingomyelin and their palmitic acid/stearic acid ratios. In addition, the method was applied to lumbar cerebrospinal fluid, plasma, isolated leukemic blood cells and neuroblastoma tissue.