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A highly sensitive, simple, and fast gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method for the quantification of serum short-chain fatty acids and their potential features in central obesity

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Abstract

Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are the main gut microbe metabolites, which have no more than six carbons. SCFAs are an emerging biomarker in metabolic diseases, including central obesity. Commonly, SCFAs are measured in fecal samples, where they are highly abundant, but here they do not reflect direct interactions with related organs. Serum SCFAs are assumed to be more associated with metabolic disease than fecal SCFAs, albeit at very low concentrations. The aim of the present study is to develop a highly sensitive, simple, and fast method for measuring six SCFAs in the serum by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCMS). The serum is mixed with meta-phosphoric acid and 2,2-dimethylbutyric acid, followed by homogenization and centrifugation. Supernatant is then injected into the fused silica capillary column. The method is linear from 0.12–500 μmol/L for all SCFAs with an accuracy of 90–117%. The total coefficient of variation for precision ranges from 3.8 to 14.1%. A preliminary study is performed with 32 centrally obese subjects and 17 lean subjects. The mean values of all SCFAs, including acetic, propionic, isobutyric, butyric, isovaleric, and valeric acid, in the centrally obese subjects are significantly higher compared with lean subjects. A significant correlation also exists between all SCFAs, with the waist circumference indicating that serum SCFAs have potential features with respect to metabolic diseases, especially central obesity. The validated GCMS method provides highly sensitive, fast, simple, and reliable SCFA quantitation in the serum and demonstrates the potential features of circulating SCFAs in central obesity.

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The authors declared that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

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Funding

This research was funded by grants-in-aids from Prodia Clinical Laboratory Post Graduate Scholarship for MNR.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jl. Raya Bandung-Sumedang KM 21, Jatinangor, Indonesia

    Miftakh Nur Rahman & Ajeng Diantini

  2. Prodia Clinical Laboratory, Jl. Kramat Raya No. 150, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Miftakh Nur Rahman, Miswar Fattah & Andi Wijaya

  3. Center of Excellence in Higher Education for Pharmaceutical Care Innovation, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jatinangor, Indonesia

    Ajeng Diantini & Melisa I. Barliana

  4. Department of Biological Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jl. Raya Bandung-Sumedang KM 21, Jatinangor, 45363, Indonesia

    Melisa I. Barliana

Authors
  1. Miftakh Nur Rahman
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  2. Ajeng Diantini
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  3. Miswar Fattah
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  4. Melisa I. Barliana
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  5. Andi Wijaya
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Contributions

MR and MB: literature review and manuscript drafting and revision; MB, AD, MF: conceptualization and design, proofreading and editing, and critical revision; MB, AD, MF: proofreading and supervision. All authors have read the manuscript and provided final approval.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Melisa I. Barliana.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in this study was approved by Health Research Ethics Committee of Faculty of Medicine Universitas Padjadjaran (No. 1039/UN6.C.10/PN/2017).

Source of biological material

The biological material was human serum, which was obtained from a stored biological samples from a previous study in 2017.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Rahman, M.N., Diantini, A., Fattah, M. et al. A highly sensitive, simple, and fast gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method for the quantification of serum short-chain fatty acids and their potential features in central obesity. Anal Bioanal Chem 413, 6837–6844 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03639-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-021-03639-3

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