Nontargeted Brain Lipidomic Profiling Performed By Uplc-Esi-Qtof-Ms/Ms

Lipidomics is a newly emerged discipline that has made a significant impact in neurobiological research, and it is defined as "the full characterization of lipid molecular species and of their biological roles with respect to expression of proteins involved in lipid metabolism and function, including gene regulation." Lipids play diverse roles in brain cellular function which is reflected by an enormous variation in the structures of lipid molecules. The study of brain lipidomics can help to unravel the diversity and to disclose the specificity of these lipid traits and its alterations at physiologic and pathologic level and confer novel insights pertaining to the related pathogenesis and unveil potential markers to facilitate early disease diagnosis. In this chapter we detail a nontargeted approach to determine the global lipidomic profile of brain samples using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-qToF-MS/MS).