Analysis of fatty acids in lung tissues using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry preceded by derivatization-solid-phase microextraction with a novel fiber

In this article, a laboratory-made sol–gel derived fiber with butyl methacrylate/hydroxy-terminated silicone oil (BMA/OH-TSO) coating was first used for headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) of medium and long chain fatty acids after derivatization and applied to the analysis of fatty acids in lung tissues by coupling to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The experimental parameters for derivatization, HS-SPME and desorption were optimized. Fatty acids in cancerous lung tissues from five patients with lung cancer were determined under the optimized conditions. Normal lung tissues from the same five patients were used as controls. This fiber showed higher extraction efficiency for fatty acids after derivatization when compared with commercial polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polydimethylsiloxane–divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB) fibers due to the three-dimensional network in the coating. The method presented in this paper showed satisfactory precision, accuracy, linearity and limits of detection (LODs). The relative standard deviation values were below 13.3% (n = 5) and the recoveries obtained ranged from 76.35% to 107.0%. The results obtained using the SPME method were also compared with those got by using liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) technique. It was found that the sensitivity could be enhanced by the SPME method. The analysis of the cancerous lung tissues and normal controls from five patients with lung cancer indicated that the main components of lung tissue were palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0) and lignoceric acid (C24:0). A comparison between the levels of the fatty acids in cancerous lung tissues and normal controls from the same a patient with lung cancer shows that most of the saturated fatty acids showed higher levels in cancerous lung tissues, while unsaturated fatty acids showed higher levels in normal controls on the whole.