Separation of Hydroxylated Metabolites of Fatty Acids (C10-C18) on a μPorasil Silica Column Using an Isocratic HPLC System

A simple, versatile, and rapid normal-phase isocratic HLPC system is described for the analysis of the major (omega and omega-1) metabolites of C10-C18 chain length fatty acids formed upon incubation with rat liver microsomes and NADPH. Quantitation was achieved by radiometric detection. Chromatographic separation was performed by elution of the fatty acids and their omega and omega-1 metabolites from a 10μ silica column (μPorasil) with hexane:2-propanol:acetic acid (96.5:2.5:1.0). Retention times for these metabolites ranged from 10 to 13 minutes for stearic acid and from 16 to 21 minutes for capric acid. Recovery of the fatty acids and their metabolites from the column was greater than 95 percent. Relative quantitative conversion of the fatty acid substrates to omega and omega-1 metabolites was in the following order: myristic acid > capric acid=lauric acid=palmitic acid ≫ stearic acid. The omega products were formed preferentially over the omega-1 products of all the fatty acids except lauric acid. The method proved suitable for routine determination of NADPH-dependent fatty acid hydroxylase activities in rat liver microsomes.