Reducing intra-sample variability of muscle lipid analysis

Intra-sample variability of intramyocellular triacylglycerols (imcTG) in skeletal muscle has been examined using two different tissue processing sequences assisted by tracer and solvent extraction techniques. Aliquoting after homogenization of muscle biopsies significantly reduced intra-sample variability compared to the aliquoting before homogenization approach. The results suggested that skeletal muscle samples be homogenized before aliquoting, if necessary, in order to reduce variability in imcTG measurements. Intramyocellular non-esterified fatty acids have a lower variability than triacylglycerols.