Utility of Moderate and High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry for Class-Specific Lipid Identification and Quantification

The study of lipidomics has been dramatically enhanced by using mass spectrometry techniques.With the purpose of identification and/or quantification of the lipids object of study, mass spectrometry has been proven to be the best approach, where three main techniques are currently being used: electrospray ionization (ESI), liquid chromatography (LC/MS), and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry (Han et al. Mass Spectrom Rev 31:134-178, 2012). In order to avoid the problems generated by gradient concentration using liquid chromatography, here we describe the method used for the lipidomics analysis using moderate and high-resolution mass spectrometry for class-specific lipid identification and quantification for phospholipid species using ESI-MS/MS.