Simultaneously quantifying hundreds of acylcarnitines in multiple biological matrices within ten minutes using ultrahigh-performance liquid-chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

Acylcarnitines are metabolic intermediates of fatty acids and branched-chain amino acids having vital biofunctions and pathophysiological significances. Here, we developed a high-throughput method for quantifying hundreds of acylcarnitines in one run using ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). This enabled simultaneous quantification of 1136 acylcarnitines (C0–C26) within 10-min with good sensitivity (limit of detection 0.992), accuracy (relative error 0.998) for predicting retention time (tR) of acylcarnitines with no standards and built a database of their multiple reaction monitoring parameters (tR, ion-pairs, and collision energy). Furthermore, we quantified 514 acylcarnitines in human plasma and urine, mouse kidney, liver, heart, lung, and muscle. This provides a rapid method for quantifying acylcarnitines in multiple biological matrices.

Keywords

• Acylcarnitine
• UPLC-MS/MS
• Quantitative structure-retention relationship
• Molecular phenotype