Analytical Sciences

Abstract − Analytical Sciences, 36(3), 373 (2020).

Multivariate Analysis for Molecular Species of Cholesteryl Ester in the Human Serum
Yifan CHEN,*1 Shu-Ping HUI,*2 Yusuke MIURA,*2 Sota KATO,*2 Toshihiro SAKURAI,*2 Zhen CHEN,*2 Emiko OKADA,*3 Shigekazu UKAWA,*4 Takafumi NAKAGAWA,*5 Koshi NAKAMURA,*6 Akiko TAMAKOSHI,*7 Hitoshi CHIBA,*8 Hiroyuki MINAMI,*9 and Masahiro MIZUTA*9
*1 Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0814, Japan
*2 Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0812, Japan
*3 Department of Nutritional Epidemiology and Shokuiku, National Institute of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Tokyo 162-8636, Japan
*4 Graduate School of Human Life Science, Osaka City University, Osaka 558-8585, Japan
*5 The Hokkaido Centre for Family Medicine, Sapporo 007-0841, Japan
*6 Department of Public Health and Hygiene, Graduate School of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa 903-0215, Japan
*7 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan
*8 Department of Nutrition, Sapporo University of Health Sciences, Sapporo 007-0894, Japan
*9 Information Initiative Center, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0811, Japan
Cholesteryl ester (CE) is an ester of cholesterol and fatty acid (FA). Plasma CE reflects complicated metabolisms of cholesterol, phospholipids, lipoproteins, and dietary FAs. An informatics approach could be useful for analysis of the CE species. In this study, two basic dimension reduction methods, principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis, were applied to serum CE species determined by LC-MS/MS in a Japanese population (n = 545). PCA and factor analysis both reflected the size (concentration), food source, fat solubility, and biological aspect of the CE species. In a comparison between PCA (PC4) and factor analysis (factor 4), the latter was found to be more suggestive from a biological aspect of n-6 FAs. Cholesteryl docosahexaenoate (DHA) was found to be unique by a factor analysis, possibly relevant to the unique accumulation of DHA in the brain. An informatics approach, especially factor analysis, might be useful for the analysis of complicated metabolism of CE species in the serum.