Ultra high performance liquid chromatography data uses in lipid research

Scientists at the Technical Research Centre of Finland have been looking into the potential of combining ultra high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with mass spectrometry to advance lipid research.

Their studies looked at UHPLC as a means of identifying lipids as part of a bioinformatics approach.

"The potential impact of lipid research has been increasingly realised, both in disease treatment and prevention," the research centre asserts.

In their research, the scientists tailored their database for UHPLC by adding certain additional items of information to its records.

They included adduct information, retention time range and main fragments to screen for potential lipids.

In turn, they found that the extra information greatly facilitated the building of libraries for experimental tandem mass spectrometry libraries for different biological tissues.

For the future, the scientists argue that bioinformatics must progress to include more complex lipids and their mass spectra, in order that lipids such as steroids and glycolipids might also be screened.