POSITIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF FATTY ACIDS IN FISH AND OTHER ANIMAL LECITHINS

Structural library and visualization of endogenously oxidized phosphatidylcholines using mass spectrometry-based techniques

Although oxidized phosphatidylcholines (oxPCs) play critical roles in numerous pathological events, the type and production sites of endogenous oxPCs remain unknown because of the lack of structural information and dedicated analytical methods. Herein, a library of 465 oxPCs is constructed using high-resolution mass spectrometry-based non-targeted analytical methods and employed to detect 70 oxPCs in mice with acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure. We show that doubly oxygenated polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-PCs (PC PUFA;O2), containing epoxy and hydroxide groups, are generated in the early phase of liver injury. Hybridization with in-vivo ¹⁸O labeling and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-tandem MS imaging reveals that PC PUFA;O2 are accumulated in cytochrome P450 2E1-expressing and glutathione-depleted hepatocytes, which are the major sites of liver injury. The developed library and visualization methodology should facilitate the characterization of specific lipid peroxidation events and enhance our understanding of their physiological and pathological significance in lipid peroxidation-related diseases.

Positional distribution of octadecadienoic acids in sponge phosphatidylethanolamines

The distribution of C14-C22 fatty acids in the phosphatidylethanolamines isolated from the sponges Agelas sp. and Spongia tampa was investigated. Selective changes with phospholipase A2 (from Agkistrodon halys blomhoffii) followed by thin-layer chromatographic separation of the resulting lysophosphatidylethanolamines and free fatty acids and subsequent methylation with HCl/MeOH and diazomethane, respectively, revealed that the 5,9-octadecadienoic acid and the 9,12-octadecadienoic acid present showed no preference for either position sn-1 or sn-2 in these phosphatidylethanolamines. The other saturated and unsaturated fatty acids with chains between 14 and 22 carbons long were also found to be equally distributed between positions sn-1 and sn-2 in the phosphatidylethanolamines in these sponges. The results contrast with what is known about the distribution in most mammalian phospholipids, such as the phosphatidylcholines from human erythrocytes, where octadecadienoic acid typically occupies the sn-2 position.

The origin of chylomicron phosphatidylcholine in the rat

This study investigates the pathways of origin of chylomicron phosphatidylcholine (PC) using a lymph- and bile-fistulated rat infused with a stabilized triolein emulsion. [(14)C-glycerol]PC was used to evaluate chylomicron PC generated by lyso PC acyltransferase. The percentage of chylomicron PC derived from the PC infused was directly proportional to the PC concentration in the infusate. When the infusate PC concentration was 10 mM, essentially all the chylomicron PC was derived therefrom at 4-6 h of infusion. Incorporation of the radiolabel was not found to be as great in the lymph subnatant PC as in chylomicron PC, suggesting that chylomicron and lymph subnatant PC might be supplied from different PC precursor pools.(32)P(i) was infused into similarly prepared rats to judge chylomicron PC synthesized from de novo sources. In these experiments it was found that the percentage of chylomicron PC derived from de novo synthesis was inversely related to the PC concentration of the infusate. This suggests that exogenously infused PC inhibits de novo PC synthesis. When [(32)P]rat bile PC was infused with [(14)C-glycerol]potato PC, the bile PC was preferred as a chylomicron precursor despite the greater similarity of the saturated fatty acids of potato PC to those of chylomicron PC. When the saturated fatty acids of bile and chylomicron PC were compared, chylomicron PC was significantly richer in stearate, suggesting extensive enterocyte modification of the saturated fatty acids of bile PC.

The proportions of different lecithins in the livers of rats deficient in essential fatty acids

1. Lecithin was prepared from the livers of rats deficient in essential fatty acids and analysed by means of countercurrent distribution. Thin-layer chromatography showed that only lecithin was present. 2. The distributions of phosphorus and the fatty acids at the 3 and 2 positions were determined. 3. It has been shown that 26% of the fatty acids in the 3 position were unsaturated and that most of the Delta(5,8,11)-eicosatrienoic acid and the arachidonic acids occur as the stearoyl or oleoyl lecithins.