The quantitation of long‐chain acyl‐CoA in mammalian tissue

Intracellular long‐chain acyl‐CoA esters are key metabolites in lipid metabolism. A rapid procedure was developed for the isolation of long‐chain acyl‐CoA from mammalian tissues. Acyl‐CoA was extracted from the tissue with chloroform/methanol and separated from other lipid‐containing metabolites by phase partition with solvents. The content and the molecular species of acyl‐CoA were determined by gas‐liquid chromatography. In rat liver and hamster heart, the total acyl‐CoA content was estimated to be 83±11 and 61±9 nmol/g wet weight, respectively. The results obtained are comparable to those reported in previous studies. The relative ease of this procedure would permit the determination of acyl‐CoA contents in a large number of samples.