SUBJECT

High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is highly heterogeneous in function, structure, and composition. Components of HDL can be assayed using various techniques, including LC/MC approaches. The purpose of this study was to develop a novel method for the analysis of the HDL lipidome. Since phospholipids represent a major bioactive lipid component of HDL, the phosphosphingolipidome of major normolipidemic HDL subpopulations was characterized in this study.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The article describes the methodology used for the analysis of the HDL lipidome. Based on existing methods of lipidomic analysis, an original method of analyzing lipidome of HDL by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI/MS/MS) was developed. This technique was used to analyze the lipidome of five normolipidemic HDL subpopulations.

CONCLUSION

The developed method allowed to identify and quantify 162 individual molecular lipid species in five normolipidemic HDL subpopulations across nine lipid subclasses, including 23 phosphatidylcholine, 22 sphingomyelin, 9lysophosphatidylcholine, 25 phosphatidylethanolamine, 17 phosphatidylinositol, 11 phosphatidylglycerol, 24 ceramide, 18 phosphatidylserine, and 13 phosphatidic acid species.