Hydrophilic Interaction Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry Characterization of Gangliosides in Biological Samples

The hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) coupled to a negative-ion electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) method has been developed for the identification of a wide range of gangliosides in biological samples. Gangliosides consist of a backbone of sphingoid base and a polar oligosaccharide chain containing at least one sialic acid. Gangliosides are extracted by chloroform–methanol–water mixture, where an upper aqueous layer containing gangliosides and other polar lipid subclasses is further purified by C18 solid-phase extraction. The optimization of chromatographic conditions includes the column selection, mobile-phase composition, pH value, buffer type, and concentration with the goal to achieve the best chromatographic resolution and MS sensitivity. The identification of gangliosides and other polar lipids is based on accurate m/z values of [M–H]− ions and fragment ions as well measured by high-resolution MS. The detailed interpretation of MS/MS spectra enables the...