Application of thin-layer chromatography to the quantitation of plasma neutral lipids and free fatty acids.

THIN-LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY (TLC) has been widely applied to the qualitative analysis of complex biologic lipid mixtures (1, 2), as well as to the quantitation of selected biochemical entities (3). Quantitation by TLC has been limited,for the most part,to the recovery of separated components from the chromatoplate, followed by an independent analysis using established analytic methods. Current technics for quantitative TLC of lipids were reviewed by Privett et a!. (4) in 1962. Recently, Blank et a!. (5) described a method employing densitometry of charred spots for direct quantitative analysis of lipid components separated from a mixture by TLC. This method is more rapid and generally more sensitive than the recovery methods, and has the added advantage of eliminating errors associated with recovery of the sample from chromatoplates. The purpose of this report is to present a comprehensive study of the application of TLC charring technic to the quantitative analysis of plasma neutral lipids and free fatty acids. The method is also compared with conventional analytic procedures. Limitations encountered using the TLC charring technic are described in order that they may be taken into account in adapting the method to the screening and