Systematic protocol for the accumulation of fatty acid data from multiple tissue samples: tissue handling, lipid extraction and class separation, and capillary gas chromatographic analysis.

A systematic procedure was developed for detailed fatty acid profiling of both neutral and polar lipid fractions isolated from hundreds of related bovine muscle and adipose tissue samples. A regimen was established for a nonbiased handling of tissue samples, which included their handling in a predetermined random order. Lipid class separation was accomplished concomitantly during the extraction of the tissues by a selective dry column method, which allowed a detailed analysis of minor but important polyunsaturated fatty acids associated with the polar fraction. Neutral lipids were derivatized to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) by a literature procedure. However, to protect against lysis of plasmalogens in the polar fraction, a modified nonacidic esterification procedure was developed. FAME profiles were obtained on a programmable high resolution capillary gas chromatograph (GC). Run programs for unattended GC operation and data storage are described. By this overall procedure, the quantitation and peak identification were obtained for major and minor fatty acid constituents from bovine tissue in a manner that prepares for valid statistical interpretation of the resulting data.