Profiling of lipid species by normal-phase liquid chromatography, nanoelectrospray ionization, and ion trap–orbitrap mass spectrometry

Detailed analysis of lipid species can be challenging due to their structural diversity and wide concentration range in cells, tissues, and biofluids. To address these analytical challenges, we devised a reproducible, sensitive, and integrated lipidomics workflow based on normal-phase liquid chromatography-Fourier transform mass spectrometry (LC-FTMS) and LC-ITMS(2) (ion trap tandem mass spectrometry) for profiling and structural analysis of lipid species. The workflow uses a normal-phase LC system for efficient separation of apolar and polar lipid species combined with sensitive and specific analysis powered by a chip-based nanoelectrospray ion source and a hybrid ion trap-orbitrap mass sp…