An improved extraction and clean-up method for determination of brain-specific fatty acids, in particular lignoceric acid (C24:0) and the cis/ trans isomers of nervonic acid (15 c-t C24:1), in meat products has been developed. The method is based on isolation of the polar lipids of interest from the bulk lipids by solid-phase extraction. The fatty acids, derivatised to their fatty acid methyl esters, are quantified by GC in a DB5 column. Fresh meat samples were extracted by using a mixture of n-butanol:hexane (1:9) as solvent. The extract was loaded in a silica gel cartridge column previously equilibrated with hexane. The first fraction containing the major part of the fat was eluted with hexane while acetone and methanol allowed the elution of fatty acids bound to polar moieties such as nervonic and lignoceric acids. This second fraction containing the analyte was methylated and injected into the GC for quantification after addition octacosane (C(28)) as internal standard.
