Development and validation of a HPLC-UV method for the quantification of major phospholipids in milk

Abstract

Phospholipids have gained increased interest in the past decades because of their numerous health benefits. Due to the amphiphilic nature of phospholipids, their quantitative analysis requires lengthy procedures. Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) with UV detector was used in the present study to effectively separate the major classes of phospholipids found in milk. Phospholipids were effectively separated on a diol-HILIC column using a gradient elution method using acetonitrile and 10 mM ammonium acetate (pH 5 adjusted using acetic acid). Good chromatographic separation of major phospholipid classes: phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylcholine (PC), and sphingomyelin (SM) was possible at 203 nm. The developed method was validated for both phospholipid standards and milk fat. The correlation coefficient for phospholipids using a linear regression equation for 1–50 μg/mL standard solutions and milk fat were >0.99 and >0.98, respectively. The relative standard deviation for intra-day and inter-day repeatability of phospholipids were less than 6 %, and recoveries fell within the 75-120% range. The developed method was applied for the quantification of phospholipids (PC, PE, and SM) in milk from indigenous and crossbred cattle. Gir, Sahiwal, and Karan Fries cows had no significant difference in PE and PC, while Gir cows exhibited significantly higher levels of SM.