Different glycolipids in sperm from different freshwater fishes – A high‐performance thin‐layer chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry study

• Published in: Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry
• Main Authors: Engel, Kathrin M., Dzyuba, Viktoriya, Dzyuba, Borys, Schiller, Jürgen
• Other Authors: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: Burbot
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rcm.8875; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Frcm.8875; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/rcm.8875; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/rcm.8875

Rationale Glycolipids play important roles in many physiological processes – despite their commonly low abundance. This study summarizes selected data on the (glyco)lipid composition of sperm from different fish species. Methods Lipid extraction of fish sperm was performed according to the procedure by Bligh and Dyer. The lipid composition of the organic extracts was analyzed by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOFMS) and electrospray ionization ion trap (ESI‐IT)MS coupled to high‐performance thin‐layer chromatography (HPTLC). Results It was shown that sperm from carp, northern pike, rainbow trout and burbot contain high amounts of neutral and acidic glycosphingolipids as well as sulfoglycolipids. These particular lipids are presumably involved in reproduction requirements. Conclusions Phospholipids and glycolipids in crude lipid extracts can be analyzed in parallel by MS coupled to TLC. The direct application of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) helps to elucidate the glycolipid structure. Thus, compositional analysis can be performed very rapidly.