Solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry provides a robust and sensitive approach for the identification and quantitation of specialized pro-resolving mediators (lipoxins, resolvins, protectins, and maresins), their pathway markers and the classic eicosanoids. Here, we provide a detailed description of the methodologies employed for the extraction of these mediators from biological systems, setup of the instrumentation, sample processing, and then the procedures followed for their identification and quantitation.
Keywords: Eicosanoids; Flux analysis; Lipid mediator metabololipidomics; Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; Maresin; Profiling; Protectin; Resolvin.