Quantification of fatty acids in the muscle of Antarctic fish Trematomus bernacchii by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry: Optimization of the analytical methodology

Abstract

This work presents data on the quantification of fatty acids (FAs, in terms of mass unit per tissue weight) in the muscle of Trematomus bernacchii, a key species in Antarctica, often used as bioindicator for contamination studies. Modifications in fatty acids content should be considered a useful biomarker to study how contaminants affect Antarctic biota. Until now, very few studies quantified fatty acids of muscle of T. bernacchii, and only as percentage of a single fatty acid on total lipids. To perform the quantification of fatty acids, we used an analytical method based on a fast microwave-assisted extraction of lipids from a lyophilized sample, a base-catalyzed trans-esterification of lipid extract to obtain Fatty Acids Methyl Esters (FAMEs), and a separation and identification of FAMEs by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. With the optimized and validated method, a fast and accurate separation of Fatty Acids Methyl Esters was performed in 43 min. The linearity was checked up to about 320 μg mL−1; limit of detection and limit of quantification are in the range 4–22 μg mL−1 and 13–66 μg mL−1, respectively. The optimized method showed a good accuracy and precision. Major fatty acids were 14:0, 16:0, 16:1n7, 18:1n9, 18:1n7, 20:1n9, 20:5n3 and 22:6n3. Quantified FAs compute for about 47 mg g−1 tissue dry weight (dw), with 9.1 ± 0.1 mg g−1 dw of saturated FAs, 25.5 ± 0.1 mg g−1 dw of mono-unsaturated FAs, and 12.2 ± 0.1 mg g−1 dw of poly-unsaturated FAs.