Analysis of circulating lipid-phase micronutrients in humans by HPLC: Review and overview of new developments

• Interest in lipid-phase antioxidants has resulted in the growth of new analytical techniques.
• New developments in HPLC-based assays for multiple analyte determinations using serum or plasma.
• Blood levels for selected analytes from the last 15 years of healthy cord blood, children and adults.

Retinol, tocopherols, coenzyme Q10, carotenoids, and vitamin D are lipophilic compounds shown to function as important health-protective agents by mitigating the damaging effects of oxidative and other injury. Scientific interest in evaluating these compounds has resurfaced in recent years, particularly in the nutritional, clinical and epidemiologic fields, and has precipitated the development of a multitude of new analytical techniques. This review considers recent developments in HPLC-based assays since 2007 for the simultaneous determination of these lipid-phase compounds utilizing exclusively serum or plasma as these matrices are mostly used in clinical and epidemiological investigations. We also provide an overview of blood measurements for selected carotenoids, tocopherols, coenzyme Q10 and retinol from the last 15 years of healthy umbilical cord blood, children, and adults.