Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Microbiology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Microbiology
. 1986 Mar;23(3):523–530. doi: 10.1128/jcm.23.3.523-530.1986

Quantitative gas chromatographic analysis of volatile fatty acids in spent culture media and body fluids.

A E van den Bogaard, M J Hazen, C P Van Boven
PMCID: PMC268687  PMID: 3958144

Abstract

Gas chromatographic analysis of volatile fatty acids for identification of obligately anaerobic bacteria and for presumptive diagnosis of anaerobic infections is now widely practiced. However, it is difficult to compare data because only a qualitative analysis is done or only chromatograms are presented instead of quantitative data on volatile fatty acid production. We compared three stationary phases for volatile fatty acid analysis of aqueous solutions and four methods of pretreating samples for gas chromatography. Quantitative analysis could be done accurately by using Carbowax as the stationary phase after pretreatment of spent culture media with Dowex columns. If only qualitative analysis is required (e.g., for presumptive diagnosis of anaerobic infections), ether extraction and headspace analysis are equally suitable. The overall variation coefficient for volatile fatty acid production by four reference strains of obligately anaerobic bacteria after 24 h of incubation was approximately 10%.

Full text

PDF
523

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Carlsson J. Simplified gas chromatographic procedure for identification of bacterial metabolic products. Appl Microbiol. 1973 Feb;25(2):287–289. doi: 10.1128/am.25.2.287-289.1973. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cochran G. C. A review of the analysis of free fatty acids [C2-C6]. J Chromatogr Sci. 1975 Sep;13(9):440–447. doi: 10.1093/chromsci/13.9.440. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gorbach S. L., Mayhew J. W., Bartlett J. G., Thadepalli H., Onderdonk A. B. Rapid diagnosis of anaerobic infections by direct gas-liquid chromatography of clinical speciments. J Clin Invest. 1976 Feb;57(2):478–484. doi: 10.1172/JCI108300. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gravett M. G., Eschenbach D. A., Speigel-Brown C. A., Holmes K. K. Rapid diagnosis of amniotic-fluid infection by gas-liquid chromatography. N Engl J Med. 1982 Mar 25;306(12):725–728. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198203253061207. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Ladas S., Arapakis G., Malamou-Ladas H., Palikaris G., Arseni A. Rapid diagnosis of anaerobic infections by gas-liquid chromatography. J Clin Pathol. 1979 Nov;32(11):1163–1167. doi: 10.1136/jcp.32.11.1163. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Larsson L., Märdh P. A., Odham G. Detection of alcohols and volatile fatty acids by head-space gas chromatography in identification of anaerobic bacteria. J Clin Microbiol. 1978 Jan;7(1):23–27. doi: 10.1128/jcm.7.1.23-27.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Mayhew J. W., Gorbach S. L. Internal standards for gas chromatographic analysis of metabolic end products from anaerobic bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1977 Apr;33(4):1002–1003. doi: 10.1128/aem.33.4.1002-1003.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. PACKETT L. V., MCCUNE R. W. DETERMINATION OF STEAM-VOLATILE ORGANIC ACIDS IN FERMENTATION MEDIA BY GAS-LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY. Appl Microbiol. 1965 Jan;13:22–27. doi: 10.1128/am.13.1.22-27.1965. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Phillips K. D., Tearle P. V., Willis A. T. Rapid diagnosis of anaerobic infections by gas-liquid chromatography of clinical material. J Clin Pathol. 1976 May;29(5):428–432. doi: 10.1136/jcp.29.5.428. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Reed P. J., Sanderson P. J. Detection of anaerobic wound infection by analysis of pus swabs for volatile fatty acids by gas-liquid chromatography. J Clin Pathol. 1979 Dec;32(12):1203–1205. doi: 10.1136/jcp.32.12.1203. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rogosa M., Love L. L. Direct quantitative gas chromatographic separation of C2-C6 fatty acids, methanol, and ethyl alcohol in aqueous microbial fermentation media. Appl Microbiol. 1968 Feb;16(2):285–290. doi: 10.1128/am.16.2.285-290.1968. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sasaki N., Takazoe I. Subgrouping of bacteroides melaninogenicus from the pattern of volatile fatty acid production. Bull Tokyo Dent Coll. 1974 Aug;15(3):125–132. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Thadepalli H., Gangopadhyay P. K. Rapid diagnosis of anaerobic empyema by direct gas-liquid chromatography of pleural fluid. Chest. 1980 Apr;77(4):507–513. doi: 10.1378/chest.77.4.507. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Watt B., Geddes P. A., Greenan O. A., Napier S. K., Mitchell A. Gas-liquid chromatography in the diagnosis of anaerobic infections: a three year experience. J Clin Pathol. 1982 Jul;35(7):709–714. doi: 10.1136/jcp.35.7.709. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Wensinck F., Ruseler-van Embden J. G. The intestinal flora of colonization-resistant mice. J Hyg (Lond) 1971 Sep;69(3):413–421. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400021665. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Wüst J. Presumptive diagnosis of anaerobic bacteremia by gas-liquid chromatography of blood cultures. J Clin Microbiol. 1977 Dec;6(6):586–590. doi: 10.1128/jcm.6.6.586-590.1977. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wüst J. Schnelldiagnose anaerober Infektionen mit der direkten gaschromatographischen Untersuchung von klinischem Material. Schweiz Med Wochenschr. 1980 Mar 8;110(10):362–369. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Zijlstra J. B., Beukema J., Wolthers B. G., Byrne B. M., Groen A., Dankert J. Pretreatment methods prior to gaschromatographic analysis of volatile fatty acids from faecal samples. Clin Chim Acta. 1977 Jul 15;78(2):243–250. doi: 10.1016/0009-8981(77)90312-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. van den Bogaard A. E., Hazen M. J., Maes J. H. The detection of obligate anaerobic bacteria in swine abscesses. A comparison between gas-liquid chromatography and bacteriological culturing methods. Vet Microbiol. 1983 Aug;8(4):389–396. doi: 10.1016/0378-1135(83)90051-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Microbiology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES