Quantification of fatty acids in the muscle of Antarctic fish Trematomus bernacchii by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry: Optimization of the analytical methodology

• Published in: Chemosphere
• Main Authors: TRUZZI, Cristina, ILLUMINATI, Silvia, ANNIBALDI, ANNA, ANTONUCCI, MATTEO, SCARPONI, Giuseppe
• Other Authors: Truzzi, Cristina, Illuminati, Silvia, Annibaldi, Anna, Antonucci, Matteo, Scarponi, Giuseppe
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Fatty acids quantification; Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; Lipid profile; Microwave-assisted extraction; Muscle; Trematomus bernacchii; Chemistry (all); Environmental Chemistry; Antarctic; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11566/246199; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.12.140

This work presents data on the quantification of fatty acids (FAs, in terms of mass unit per tissue weight) in the muscle of Trematomus bernacchii, a key species in Antarctica, often used as bioindicator for contamination studies. Modifications in fatty acids content should be considered a useful biomarker to study how contaminants affect Antarctic biota. Until now, very few studies quantified fatty acids of muscle of T. bernacchii, and only as percentage of a single fatty acid on total lipids. To perform the quantification of fatty acids, we used an analytical method based on a fast microwave-assisted extraction of lipids from a lyophilized sample, a base-catalyzed trans-esterification of lipid extract to obtain Fatty Acids Methyl Esters (FAMEs), and a separation and identification of FAMEs by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. With the optimized and validated method, a fast and accurate separation of Fatty Acids Methyl Esters was performed in 43 min. The linearity was checked up to about 320 mg mL1; limit of detection and limit of quantification are in the range 4e22 mgmL1 and 13e66 mgmL1, respectively. The optimized method showed a good accuracy and precision. Major fatty acids were 14:0, 16:0, 16:1n7, 18:1n9, 18:1n7, 20:1n9, 20:5n3 and 22:6n3. Quantified FAs compute for about 47 mg g1 tissue dry weight (dw), with 9.1 ± 0.1 mg g1 dw of saturated FAs, 25.5 ± 0.1 mg g1 dw of mono-unsaturated FAs, and 12.2 ± 0.1 mg g1 dw of poly-unsaturated FAs