serum preparation for SCFA quantification

[ornot]

I'm a microbiology PhD student and my supervisor has told me to develop a protocol for analysing short chain fatty acids in serum for a visiting student. This isn't really my field, and I'm having trouble finding a technique in the literature that uses the same or similar equipment to what we have in our lab.

We normally use a widebore FFAP column to measure SCFAs in fecal water. The samples are filtered and acidified prior to direct injection. Our technique is based on one by Zhao et al 2006, and works quite reliably for fecal SCFA.

Is there anything in serum that will wreck the column (I'm thinking triglycerides and proteins)? Does anyone have any advice or warnings for attempting this?

I have a lot of samples to analyse, so I would prefer to keep any preparation quick and simple.

[Peter Apps]

If your system survives faecal water then serum should be completely innocuous.

Peter

[AICMM]

ornot,

What about a solvent wash. Slightly basic, extract with hexane to remove proteins and triglycerides, then acidify and extract again for FAME's?

Worth a look.

Best regards.