Table 1.
Various methods to measure bioactive lipids
| Method | Arachidonic Acid | Sphingolipids | (Lyso)phospholipids | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Radioenzymatic | Remesha et al. (5) Mauco et al. (31) |
Perry et al. (15) Olivera et al. (32)* Brizuela and Cuvilllier (33) |
Saulnier-Blache et al. (14) Kishimoto et al. (7) |
Linear detection, high sensitivity, available for different lipid families | Designated area for working with radioactive elements, no specificity |
| 2. Colorimetric | N/A | Brizuela and Cuvilllier (33) | Kishimoto et al. (7, 18) Hosogaya et al. (8) |
No lipid extraction before assay, linear detection | No specificity |
| 3. Fluorometric | Nakagawa and Waku (34)# | N/A | Alpturk et al. (16) | Sensitivity, wide detection range | Lipid extraction before assay, indirect measurements, low sample yields, no specificity |
| 4. ELISA | aSee note. | bSee note. | Balood et al. (35) dSee note. |
Readily available, low complexity | No specificity |
| 5. GC ± MS | Gerber et al. (36) de Silva et al. (37) Hammerstrom et al. (38) |
Raith et al. (39) Kuksis and Myher (40) |
Tokumura et al. (41) Bese et al. (42) Sugiura et al. (43) |
High sensitivity and specificity | Multistep, technically challenging |
| 6. TLC ± MS | Neufeld and Majerus (44) | Olivera et al. (32) Brizuela and Cuvilllier (33) |
Sutphen et al. (45) Xiao et al. (46) |
High sensitivity, rapid analysis time | Multistep, limited resolution capability |
| 7. LC ± MS | Perret et al. (47) Nakagawa and Waku (34)# |
cSee note. | Baker et al. (20, 48) | High sensitivity, minimizes ion suppression effect | Multi-step, expensive, technically hallenging, potential elution of targets |
| 8. LC + MS/MS | Gachet et al. (49) Bian et al. (50) |
Blachnio-Zabielska et al. (51) Mano et al. (52) |
Scherer et al. (53) Liebisch et al. (54) Shan et al. (22) |
Gold-standard, sensitive, specific | Multi-step, expensive, technically challenging, carryover contamination with crude samples |
| 9. MALDI – TOF + MS |
N/A | Fujiwaki et al. (28) Morishige et al. (29) |
Morishige et al. (29) | Rapid turnaround time, little to no fragmentation of species, small sample quantity required | Multistep lipid extraction process, labor-intensive |
Methods 1–4 indicate methods that do not distinguish/separate the different isoforms in the lipid family. ELISA, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; GC, gas chromatography; LC, liquid chromatography; MS, mass spectrometry; MS/MS, tandem mass spectrometry; MALDI-TOF, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry; N/A, not applicable; TLC, thin-layer chromatography.
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits for AA measurements are available for purchase; no references found.
Antibodies for ceramide(s) and sphingosine(s) are available for purchase, and multiple publications are available where the antibody was used for ELISA, IHC, or flow cytometry.
High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with single mass spectrometry analysis is rarely performed.
ELISA kits are available from commercial venders; no references found.
Radiolabeled element was used before thin-layer chromatography separation.
HPLC was combined with fluorescence measurements.