Selective Visualization of Administrated Arachidonic and Docosahexaenoic Acids in Brain Using Combination of Simple Stable Isotope-Labeling Technique and Imaging Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

We developed a new method for monitoring the distribution of administrated fatty acids in the body by combination of stable isotope-labeling technique and imaging mass spectrometry (IMS). The developed stable isotope-labeling technique is very simple and able to adapt to all the fatty acid species. In this study, we synthesized stable isotope-labeled arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and they were simultaneously administrated to mice to examine their migrations and distributions in the brain. The administrated AA and DHA have two more molecular weight compared to original those and were apparently distinguished from originally accumulated AA and DHA in the brain using IMS. As the results, we could reveal that the administered AA and DHA firstly accumulated in the hippocampus and cerebellar cortex in the brain. This technique does not use radio isotope and would be able to apply to elucidate the role of all the kinds of fatty acid species in the body.