Triglycerides (TAG) play an important role in metabolism as energy and a means of transporting fat in food. CD BioGlyco provides qualitative and quantitative analysis services of TAG by gas chromatography (GC), high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC), etc.
TAG is an organic ester compound composed of one glycerol molecule and three fatty acids (FA) molecules. It is the main component of animal fats and food fats. The length of FAs linked to glycerol maybe 4-24 carbons, but common animal oils and vegetable oils mainly contain triglycerides containing C16 and C18.
TAGs are the main components of very-low-density lipoproteins and chylomicrons. In the small intestine, TAGs are broken down into glycerol and FAs under the action of lipase and bile and then enter the blood vessels. It reorganizes in the blood to form part of lipoproteins. Fat cells produce and store TAGs. If the body needs FAs as an energy source, glucagon will prompt lipase to break down TAGs and release free fatty acids (FFAs). Since the brain cannot use FAs as energy sources, the glycerol in TAGs will be converted into glucose for the brain to use as energy sources, and FAs are also converted into ketone bodies available to the brain in the liver. Increased levels of human TAGs are related to a variety of diseases, including atherosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, and metabolic syndrome.
Fig.1 Intestinal absorption and synthesis of TAG. (Abourjaili, 2010)
TAGs are the main components of vegetable oils, and the analysis of their composition helps to monitor the quality of edible oils. CD BioGlyco provides customers with a variety of TAG analysis methods including but not limited to:
GC is suitable for qualitative analysis based on the retention time of the analyte under standard conditions. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is more widely used in the analysis of TAG.
Because HPLC is not limited by thermal stability and volatility, it is widely used for the analysis of TAG. HPLC is divided into normal phase HPLC (NP-HPLC), reversed-phase HPLC (RP-HPLC), two-dimensional HPLC (2D-HPLC) and mixed-mode chromatography (MMC).
SFC has the advantages of low separation temperature, fast separation speed, non-toxic, and environmentally friendly. When SFC separates TAG and other weakly polar compounds, a certain amount of volatile solvent is usually added to improve the separation selectivity.
It is suitable for separating TAG enantiomers with a specific number of double bonds in a specific position.
CD BioGlyco has diversified Lipid Analysis services. If you are interested in our triacylglycerol analysis services, please feel free to contact us.
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