MEASUREMENT OF VERY LONG-CHAIN FATTY-ACIDS, PHYTANIC AND PRISTANIC ACID IN PLASMA AND CULTURED FIBROBLASTS BY GAS-CHROMATOGRAPHY

Two methods are described, both currently used in our laboratory, for the quantitative analysis of very long-chain fatty acids, phytanic aci d and pristanic acid in plasma and cultured fibroblasts by gas-liquid chromatography. The first method is based on the procedure developed b y Moser and Moser (1991) and the second is based on the method of Onke nhout and colleagues (1989), which is an application of the original m ethod of Lepage and Roy for plasma and fibroblasts. A survey is given of the concentrations of very long-chain fatty acids, pristanic and ph ytanic acid in plasma and fibroblasts from control subjects and all pa tients investigated so far in our laboratory.