This multi-author volume provides an unprecedented in-depth coverage of the separation, identification and quantitation of simple and complex food and tissue fats and other lipids by chromatographic and mass spectrometric methods with emphasis on applications to biomedical research and clinical diagnosis. It contains a total of 13 chapters written by scientists who are internationally recognized in their specific fields. The volume covers analyses of molecular species of eicosanoids, sterols, and glycero and glycolipids in healthy and diseased human tissues and in appropriate animal models. The text complements the simpler group determinations of lipid classes commonly employed in clinical laboratories. The volume anticipates the discovery of the specific metabolism of molecular species of complex glycerolipids and provides the medical researcher and clinical investigator with the means for dealing with it.