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Determination of Sphingolipids by LC-MS/MS

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Bioactive Lipid Mediators

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Abstract

To investigate the biological functions and roles of sphingolipids, sensitive and compound-specific methods are required to measure their levels in biological samples. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) using electrospray ionization (ESI) is suitable for the reliable simultaneous analysis of multiple compounds. In addition, the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode of tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is effective to quantify with high sensitivity and selectivity. Therefore, LC-MS/MS came to be utilized for simultaneous analysis of the sphingolipids in vivo. Useful methods for the sphingolipids and related features are also summarized. The following protocol demonstrates information on determination of sphingolipids, especially sphingosine and sphingosine-1-phosphate, by LC-ESI-MS/MS in biological samples such as cell lysates, plasma, serum, or urine.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University, 6-3, Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8578, Japan

    Tomohiro Takahashi, Chihiro Takeda, Kohei Saito, Naoto Suzuki, Hiroki Tsukamoto & Yoshihisa Tomioka

  2. Department of Integrative Genomics, Tohoku Medical Megabank, Tohoku University, 2-1, Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8573, Japan

    Daisuke Saigusa

  3. Graduate School of Medicine, Tohoku University, 2-1, Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8573, Japan

    Daisuke Saigusa & Yoshihisa Tomioka

Authors
  1. Tomohiro Takahashi
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  2. Daisuke Saigusa
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  3. Chihiro Takeda
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  4. Kohei Saito
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  5. Naoto Suzuki
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  7. Yoshihisa Tomioka
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Correspondence to Yoshihisa Tomioka .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

    Takehiko Yokomizo

  2. Lipid Metabolism Project, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, Tokyo, Japan

    Makoto Murakami

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Takahashi, T. et al. (2015). Determination of Sphingolipids by LC-MS/MS. In: Yokomizo, T., Murakami, M. (eds) Bioactive Lipid Mediators. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55669-5_26

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