Separation of Several Main Glycolipids into Classes and Partially into Species by HPLC and UV-Detection

One-step separation system of bio-functional lipid compounds from natural sources

Lipids are a very heterogeneous class of biomolecules with distinct structures and functions. Total lipids (TLs) obtained from natural sources are regularly further separated into lipid subclasses, with the two major ones being the polar lipids (PLs) and neutral lipids (NLs). Traditional analytical methods for fractionating TLs into NLs, PLs, and their subclasses, usually comprise difficult, costly and time-consuming steps. Instead, several benefits and applications are derived by implementing a novel one-step semi-preparative and reversed-phase HPLC-analysis for separating TLs into all kinds of lipid subclasses. This method allows a one-step separation/fractionation of several subclasses of bio-functional PLs (i.e. phospholipids, glycolipids, phenolic compounds, N-acyl-homoserine-lactones, etc.) and NLs (i.e. triacylglycerols, fatty acids, esters, etc.) from TL-extracts of a natural source, prior to further testing them for their bio-functionality (i.e. in bioassays/cell models) and structure-activity relationships (i.e. LC-MS/GC-MS).•This method can be applied in several natural sources, such as animal and marine sources, plants, microorganisms of biotechnological and agricultural interest, foods, beverages and related products, and by-products.•This method can also be applied for separating specific bio-functional lipids from complex medical and pharmaceutical samples (i.e. cells, tissues, blood, plasma, liposomes, etc.), either for evaluating their role in diseases (i.e. PAF/PAF-like molecules) or by elucidating their protective roles (i.e. PLs rich in ω3 PUFA) for supplements and nutraceuticals' applications.

Fluorescence probe assisted post-column detection for lipid analysis in microbore-LC

A general approach, still few exploited so far and never associated with microbore-LC, consisting of detection of various lipid classes (i.e. phospholipids, triglycerides, ceramides and glycosphingolipids) by non-covalent association with 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) fluorescence probe is developed. This mode of detection was coupled with non-aqueous reversed-phase microbore-LC (C18) by using classical post-column fluorescence detection. The classical LC system was first adapted to microbore-chromatography (internal diameter 1 mm) without apparatus miniaturization of the solvent delivery system and the detection cell. For this purpose, the detection parameters (probe concentration, post-column flow rate, post-column reactor length and post-column system temperature) were optimized by a central composite design (CCD) using a mixture of phosphatidylcholine (PC) species as a lipid model and DPH (lambda(ex) = 350 nm, lambda(em) = 430 nm) as a fluorescence probe. The optimal conditions of detection for the various molecular species of PC were determined for a DPH concentration of 3.35 micromol/L, a post-column flow rate of 0.5 mL/min, a reactor length of 1.4 m and a temperature of 35 degrees C. The fluorescence response was linear over a wide range of PC species from 5 microg/mL to 100 microg/mL and the lower limit of detection (signal/noise = 3) was about 1 microg/mL, that is equivalent to evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD). Others molecular species of various classes of lipids, i.e. triglycerides, ceramides and glycosphingolipids were also easily detected. Thus, this study demonstrated the versatility of the proposed system of detection which was shown to be sensitive, easy to perform, non-destructive and allowed, in contrast to ELSD, for a linear response with various polarity lipid classes.

Fractionation of soybean phospholipids by preparative high-performance liquid chromatography with sorbents of various particle size

Normal-phase high-performance liquid chromatography was used on a preparative scale to seperate phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylinositol (PI) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) phospholipids from soybean. Separation was achieved using mixtures of three solvents, hexane, methanol and isopropanol. The optimized mobile phase compositions were experimentally determined while operating in a linear gradient mode using 15, 5-20, 25-40, and 40-63 microm preparative particles as well as 4 microm analytical particles. A gradient mobile phase was established on a commmercially available analytical Nova-Pak column such that hexane linearly decreased from 85 to 0 as isopropanol and methanol linearly increased in two gradient steps from 10 to 30 and 5 to 70 respectively. The total run time was 25 min at a flow-rate of 1.5 ml/min. A slight change in mobile phase composition was required to increase the resolution of phospholipids. The 15 microm particle size gave the best separation of the preparative particle sizes examined based on their resolutions between PE and PI and PI and PC. Finally, the retention factors of PE and PC were correlated in terms of mobile phase composition.

Antithrombotic lipid minor constituents from vegetable oils. Comparison between olive oils and others

Many epidemiological studies suggest that vegetable oils and especially olive oil present a protective effect against atherosclerosis. In this study, total lipids (TL) of Greek olive oils and seed oils of four kinds, namely, soybean, corn, sunflower, and sesame oil, were separated into total polar lipids (TPL) and total neutral lipids (TNL) via a novel extraction procedure. TPL and TNL of olive oil were fractionated by HPLC for further study. Each lipid fraction from HPLC separation along with TL, TPL, and TNL lipid samples from oils were tested in vitro for their capacity to induce or to inhibit washed rabbit platelet aggregation. Comparison between olive and seed oils supports the superiority of olive oil as high levels of platelet activating factor (PAF) antagonists have been detected, mainly in TPL. In addition, the structure of the most active fraction from olive oil was elucidated, as a glycerol-glycolipid. Because it has already been reported that PAF plays a pivotal role in atherogenesis, the existence of PAF agonists and antagonists in vegetable oils may explain their protective role against atherosclerosis.

Postcolumn fluorescence as an alternative to evaporative light scattering detection for ceramide analysis with gradient elution in non-aqueous reversed-phase liquid chromatography

Ceramide analysis was developed with gradient elution in non-aqueous reversed-phase liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) or postcolumn fluorescence detection. Fluorescence detection (excitation, 360 nm; emission, 425 nm) after postcolumn formation of mixed assemblies between eluted ceramides and 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene was developed. In comparison with ELSD, fluorescence detection allows a better detection of the minor species ceramide from ceramide type III (commercial mixture of non-hydroxy fatty acid-sphingosine) and appears to be more sensitive for quantitation of ceramides at low concentrations. The fluorescence response is linear over a wide range of injected amount of ceramide III (expressed as stearoyl-phytosphingosine): 10 ng to 1000 ng. The response of ELSD is non linear but can be linearized in double logarithmic coordinates for calculations over a narrow range, e.g. between 10 to 350 ng ceramide III injected. The lower quantitation limits of these two detectors are similar: 5 ng ceramide III was injected.

Synthesis of a new phosphoglycolipid with biological activity towards platelets

Various synthetic as well as naturally occurring compounds have been found to exhibit platelet-activating factor (PAF)-like activity or to act as specific PAF inhibitors. In this work we have synthesized a new phosphoglycolipid, methyl 2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-6-(1'-O-stearoyl-2'-O- acetyl-DL-glycero-3'-phosphoryl)-alpha-D-glucopyranoside ammonium salt, using a combination of known synthetic steps. This phosphoglycolipid was first purified on TLC (Rf 0.7, using chloroform/methanol/water, 65:25:4, v/v/v as solvent system). It was further purified onto a high performance liquid chromatography silica column with an elution system that contained acetonitrile and methanol (retention time 13.5 min). Its identification was based on chemical determinations and electrospray mass spectrometry analysis. The above compound induced washed platelet aggregation with an EC50 value at 2 x 10(-4) M. The aggregation curve was biphasic, the first wave of which was through the PAF way while the second one was through the ADP way. Treatment with acetylhydrolase resulted in a rapid decrease of the first wave of aggregation and in a slow decrease of the second wave. In lower concentrations, the phosphoglycolipid inhibited PAF- and thrombin-induced aggregation with IC50 values of the order of 10(-7) M. In conclusion, this phosphoglycolipid has a diverse biological activity. The PAF-like activity of this new lipid enforces the conception that PAF is a member of a large family consisting of lipid mediators.