The stability of blood fatty acids during storage and potential mechanisms of degradation: A review

Fatty acids in blood samples, particularly polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), are susceptible to degradation through peroxidation reactions during long-term storage. Storage of blood samples is necessary in almost all studies and is crucial for larger clinical studies and in field research settings where it is not plausible for analytical infrastructure. Despite this, PUFA stability during blood storage is often overlooked. This review introduces and discusses lipid peroxidation and popular strategies employed to prevent or minimize peroxidation reactions during fatty acid analysis. Further, an in-depth examination of fatty acid stability during storage of blood is discussed in detail for all blood fractions including plasma/serum, erythrocytes and whole blood stored both in cryovials and on chromatography paper before discussing the associated mechanisms of degradation during storage. To our knowledge this is the first review of its kind and will provide researchers with the necessary information to confidently store blood samples for fatty acid analysis. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.