Evaluation of the Bligh & Dyer lipid determination method

The Bligh & Dyer method for lipid determination has been used for many years in several different ways. To discover the success of this old method and assess the impact of deviations from it on the analytical result, the development of the method was evaluated using the equilibrium theory. In addition the actual phase compositions and phase volumes of their experiments were determined. Absorption of organic phase to the tissue appeared to be one of the main sources of incomplete extraction. The amount of lipid remaining in the aqueous phase is likely to be negligible, just like adsorption of lipids to the tissue. The kinetics of the extraction were promoted both by a multi-step extraction approach, and the methanol content. The latter is also expected to be a key parameter in determining the yield of lipid extraction.