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Qualitative Distribution of Endogenous Cholesteryl Esters in Plasma of Humans and Three Rodent Species Using Stepwise UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS

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Abstract

Objective

Cholesteryl esters (CEs) are composed of various fatty acyl chains attached to the hydroxyl groups of cholesterol, and abnormalities in their metabolism are related to many diseases. This study aimed to develop an ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole exactive mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Exactive MS) method to identify the CEs in plasma.

Methods

First, the MS fragmentation patterns were investigated using seven commercial CE standards. Then, the CEs in plasma were characterized through the accurate mass data of precursor ions and characteristic product ions. A strategy of step-by-step m/z scans in a narrow range was proposed to identify more trace CEs by the full-scan data-dependent MS/MS (ddMS2) mode.

Results

A total of 50 CE species consisting of 55 regioisomers were identified in human plasma. Among them, two species were reported for the first time.

Conclusion

This study is the most comprehensive identification of CE species in human plasma to date. These results will contribute to the in-depth profiling of CEs in human plasma and provide guidance for animal model selection when studying lipid-related diseases.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Hongren Biopharmaceutical Inc., Wuhan, China, for providing technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Pharmacy, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China

    Jing-chen Wang, Xue-chen Liu, Pan Yan, Zhi-feng Du & Hong-liang Jiang

  2. Department of Pharmacy, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, China

    Peng Cao, Sen Li & Shuai-long Jia

  3. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, 310013, China

    Bing-ying Hu

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  1. Jing-chen Wang
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  2. Xue-chen Liu
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  3. Peng Cao
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  4. Sen Li
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Correspondence to Hong-liang Jiang.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Additional information

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81874309, No. 81903901 and No. 81803717) and the Youth Foundation of the Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences (No. 2020Y003).

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Wang, Jc., Liu, Xc., Cao, P. et al. Qualitative Distribution of Endogenous Cholesteryl Esters in Plasma of Humans and Three Rodent Species Using Stepwise UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS. CURR MED SCI 42, 692–701 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-022-2577-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11596-022-2577-5

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