Mass spectrometric analyses of phospholipids in the S334ter-3 rat model of retinal degeneration

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to profile the endogenous phospholipid species in the retinal tissue of the S334ter-3 rat model of retinal degeneration. Retinal tissue was collected from S334ter-3 rats at postnatal day (P) 20, P30, and P60, while control retinal samples were collected from Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats at the same time points for comparison. METHODS Lipids were extracted using the Bligh and Dyer method, and resuspended in an acetonitrile/isopropanol (1:1) solution. For lipid analyses, a positive ion-mode precursor ion scan (PIS) was used for phosphatidylcholine (PC; product m/z of 184), a negative ion-mode neutral loss scan (NLS) was used for phosphatidylserine (PS; product m/z of 87.1), and a negative ion-mode PIS was used for phosphatidylinositol (PI; product m/z of 241) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE; product m/z of 196); the analyses were carried out using a TSQ Quantum Access Max mass spectrometer. The samples were directly infused with a Triversa Nanomate using 1.6 kV and 0.4 psi of pressure for the positive ion mode, and 1.3 kV and 0.6 psi of pressure for the negative ion mode, and scanned for 2 min between 200 m/z and 1000 m/z. Ratiometric quantification was performed using quantitative standards for each lipid class. RESULTS The comparative profiles of PC, PE, PS, and PI between S334ter-3 and control rats showed that there were several lipid species common to both groups, as well as several that were unique to the S334ter-3 group and vice versa. CONCLUSIONS It was found that the proportions of PC and PS were higher in the control retina compared to S334ter-3, and that the proportions of PE and PI were higher in the S334ter-3 retina compared to control.