Capillary gas chromatography of fatty acid methyl esters from human milk lipid subclasses

The fatty acid (FA) composition of the human milk lipid subclasses sphingomyelin, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and cholesterol esters (CE) were analysed by capillary gas chromatography (GC) on wall-coated open-tubular glass columns. Compared with GC on packed columns, capillary GC was found to be ten times more sensitive (0.1 microgram of each individual FA methyl ester could be quantified), and the time needed for the analysis could be reduced by a factor of five. The reproducibility of the analysis was good relative standard deviation (4-7%) and comparable to that obtained by packed column GC.