Separation of peroxidation products of diacyl-phosphatidylcholines by reversed-phase liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry

Lipid peroxidation process has attracted much attention due to the growing evidence of its involvement in the pathogenesis of age-related diseases. The monitoring of the lipid peroxidation products in phospholipids, formed under oxidative stress conditions, may provide new markers for oxidative stress signaling and for disease states, giving new insights in the pathogenesis process. Reversed-phase liquid chromatographic method coupled to mass spectrometry was developed for the separation of oxidized glycero-phosphatidylcholine (GPC) peroxidation products formed by the Fenton reaction that mimic in vivo oxidative stress conditions. The LC-MS conditions were applied for the separation of peroxidation products of oleoyl- (POPC), lineloyl- (PLPC) and arachidonoyl-palmitoyl phosphatidylcholine (PAPC). The peroxidation products separated included products resulting from the insertion of oxygen atoms in the sn-2 chain (long-chain), and products with the sn-2 chain shortened resulting from cleavage of oxygen-centered radicals (short-chain). Among long-chain products were the keto, hydroxy, hydroperoxide and poly-hydroxy derivatives, while short-chain products included dicarboxylic acids, aldehydes and hydroxy-aldehydes. Separation of long-chain products formed in each phosphatidylcholine was observed, and the reconstructed ion chromatogram of each ion showed an increase in the number of peaks with the increase in the number of oxygen atoms inserted into the phospholipid. Separation of short-chain products took place according to the functional group present at the sn-2 moiety that allowed the elution of dicarboxylic acids distinct from aldehydes. Separation between isomeric structures that were present in short- and long-chain products was also achieved.