Abstract
Short-chain fatty acids, the end products of fermentation of dietary fibers by the gut microbiota, have been shown to exert multiple effects on mammalian metabolism. For the analysis of short-chain fatty acids, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry is a very powerful and reliable method. Here, we describe a fast, reliable, and reproducible method for the separation and quantification of short-chain fatty acids in mouse feces, cecum content, and blood samples (i.e., plasma or serum) using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The short-chain fatty acids analyzed include acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid, valeric acid, hexanoic acid, and heptanoic acid.
Key words
- Short-chain fatty acids
- Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry
- GC-MS
- Targeted metabolomics
- PFBBr
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
Buying options
Springer Nature is developing a new tool to find and evaluate Protocols. Learn more
References
Siri-Tarino PW, Chiu S, Bergeron N et al (2015) Saturated fats versus polyunsaturated fats versus carbohydrates for cardiovascular disease prevention and treatment. Annu Rev Nutr 35:517–543
Desbois AP, Smith VJ (2010) Antibacterial free fatty acids: activities, mechanisms of action and biotechnological potential. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 85(6):1629–1642
Cummings JH, Pomare EW, Branch WJ et al (1987) Short chain fatty acids in human large intestine, portal, hepatic and venous blood. Gut 28:1221–1227
O’Keefe SJD (2016) Diet, microorganisms and their metabolites, and colon cancer. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 13:691–706
Dołowy M, Pyka A (2015) Chromatographic methods in the separation of long-chain mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids. J Chem 2015:20
Gao P, Xu G (2015) Mass-spectrometry-based microbial metabolomics: recent developments and applications. Anal Bioanal Chem 407:669–680
Kloos D-P, Gay E, Lingeman H et al (2014) Comprehensive gas chromatography-electron ionisation mass spectrometric analysis of fatty acids and sterols using sequential one-pot silylation: quantification and isotopologue analysis. Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 28:1507–1514
Tomcik K, Ibarra RA, Sadhukhan S et al (2011) Isotopomer enrichment assay for very short chain fatty acids and its metabolic applications. Anal Biochem 410:110–117
Quehenberger O, Armando AM, Dennis EA (2011) High sensitivity quantitative lipidomics analysis of fatty acids in biological samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Biochim Biophys Acta 1811:648–656
Gu H, Liu G, Wang J et al (2014) Selecting the correct weighting factors for linear and quadratic calibration curves with least-squares regression algorithm in bioanalytical LC-MS/MS assays and impacts of using incorrect weighting factors on curve stability, data quality, and assay perfo. Anal Chem 86:8959–8966
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Hoving, L.R., Heijink, M., van Harmelen, V., van Dijk, K.W., Giera, M. (2018). GC-MS Analysis of Short-Chain Fatty Acids in Feces, Cecum Content, and Blood Samples. In: Giera, M. (eds) Clinical Metabolomics. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1730. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7592-1_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7592-1_17
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7591-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7592-1
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols