Flow injection tandem mass spectrometric measurement of ceramides of multiple chain lengths in biological samples

A method is presented for the measurement of ceramide species in biological fluids using flow injection tandem mass spectrometry. Ceramides are important signaling compounds in a number of cell:cell interactions including apoptosis and neurodegeneration. Because of the large number of potential fatty acid constituent moieties on ceramide molecules, a method which accurately distinguishes different chain-length species was required. The present method does not require HPLC separation and is designed to be applicable to high throughput analysis required for clinical studies. We provide a reference range for all measurable ceramide species in normal human plasma and an example of the utility of the assay in providing biomarkers in an in vitro apoptotic cell death study using murine hematopoietic cells treated with daunorubicin.