Liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometric determination of ceramides and related lipid species in cellular extracts

A liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric (LC–MS/MS) method was developed for the simultaneous qualitative and quantitative determination of sphingolipid metabolites such as ceramides, sphingisine, sphinganine, sphingomyelins, and ceramide 1-phosphates in the extracts of human promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60). The assay uses C4 ceramide as an internal standard; simple liquid extraction; a short XTerra MS C18 (3 μm, 50 mm × 2.0 mm) column; a gradient mobile phase of 5 mM ammonium formate (pH 4.0)/methanol/tetrahydrofuran (5/2/3 → 1/2/7); mass spectrometric detection using electrospray ionization. This LC–MS/MS method allowed the identification of 22 sphingolipid derivatives at pmol levels. In addition, this technique was successfully applied to analyze the changes of the sphingolipids profiles in cancer cells treated with apoptosis inducing agents, C2 ceramide and H2O2.