Determination of free fatty acid profiles in human serum by underivatized gas chromatography

Objectives: A method of underivatized gas chromatography (GC) was established for the determination of free fatty acid (FFA) profile in human serum. Methods: A capillary column with a chemically bonded free fatty acid phase (FFAP) was used to separate free fatty acid profiles with a programmed rising temperature system. Free fatty acid profile were detected by flame ionization detection (FID). n Heptanoic acid(C7 ∶ 0)and Heptadecanoic acid (C17 ∶ 0) were used as internal standard (IS). The free fatty acids were extracted from serum by hexane isopropanol (4 ∶ 1, v/v ). Results:Except C2 and C3, the recoveries ranged from 81.08 % to 118.29% .The intra and inter day coefficient of variation were less than 8.95% and 8.47% respectively. Conclusions:This method is simple, reliable and suitable for the determination of FFA in biological sample.