Determination of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances in oxidized lipids by high-performance liquid chromatography with a postcolumn reaction system.

A new high-performance liquid chromatography procedure with a postcolumn reaction system for determination of free malondialdehyde (MDA) and other thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBA-RS) in oxidized lipids in vitro has been developed. Using this procedure, both thermally oxidized methyl linoleate and the degradation products of methyl linoleate hydroperoxides revealed many kinds of lipophilic TBA-RS, but no free MDA was detected on the high-performance liquid chromatography. Similarly, oxidized methyl arachidonate also produced certain kinds of TBA-RS in the lipophilic phase and a small amount of free MDA in the hydrophilic phase. These results indicate that lipophilic TBA-RS produced in oxidized lipids in vitro are major TBA-RS and that the production of free MDA is small, even though the degree of lipid oxidation has previously been estimated as an MDA equivalent measured by the TBA colorimetric test.