Separation and identification of plasma short-chain acylcarnitine isomers by HPLC/MS/MS for the differential diagnosis of fatty acid oxidation defects and organic acidemias.

This paper reports a new, high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry method for the separation and identification of human plasma short-chain acylcarnitine isomers. This simple, rapid procedure involves the use of a single sample previously shown to contain elevated acylcarnitine concentrations by flow injection analysis, and can separate two C4, three C5, two C5:1 and four C5-OH acylcarnitine isomers, thus permitting the differential diagnosis of certain fatty acid oxidation defects and organic acidemias.