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Deep profiling of plasmalogens by coupling the Paternò–Büchi derivatization with tandem mass spectrometry

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Abstract

Plasmalogens are a special class of glycerophospholipids characterized by a vinyl ether bond (-C = C-O-) at the sn-1 position of the glycerol backbone. Altered plasmalogen profiles have been observed in neurodegenerative diseases and cancers. Profiling of plasmalogens requires specifying the vinyl ether bond and differentiating them from various types of isobars and isomers. Herein, by coupling C = C derivatization via offline Paternò–Büchi reaction with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, we have developed a sensitive workflow for analysis of plasmalogens from biological samples. Using bovine heart lipid extract as a model system, we profiled more than 100 distinct structures of plasmenylethanolamines (PE-Ps) and plasmenylcholines (PC-Ps) at the C = C location level, far exceeding previous reports. Analysis of human glioma and normal brain tissue samples revealed elevated n-10 C = C isomers of PE-Ps in the glioma tissue samples. These findings suggest that the developed workflow holds potential in aiding the study of altered metabolism of plasmalogens in clinical samples.

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Funding

Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 22225404) and National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFA0800903) is greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Phosphorus Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Bei**g, 10084, China

    Yichun Wang & Yu **a

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  1. Yichun Wang
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  2. Yu **a
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Y.X.; sample preparation: Y.W.; analysis: Y.W.; resources: Y.X.; writing—original draft preparation: Y.W.; writing—review and editing: Y.X.; visualization: Y.W.; supervision: Y.X. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yu **a.

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Ethical disclosure and source of biological material

Human brain tissue samples were obtained from Huashan Hospital, affiliated with Fudan University. All protocols involving these biological samples received approval from the Ethical Review Board at Tsinghua University, under the approval number IRB No. 20180030.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Published in the topical collection New Trends in Lipidomics with guest editor Michal Holčapek.

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Wang, Y., **a, Y. Deep profiling of plasmalogens by coupling the Paternò–Büchi derivatization with tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-024-05376-9

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