Structural Elucidation of Irish Organic Farmed Salmon (Salmo salar) Polar Lipids with Antithrombotic Activities.

While several marine polar lipids (PL) have exhibited cardioprotective properties through their effects on the platelet-activating factor (PAF) pathways, salmon PL have not been tested so far. In this study, the antithrombotic activities of salmon PL were assessed in human platelets and the structural characterisation of bioactive salmon PL was performed by GC-MS and LC-MS analyses. PL from fillets of Irish organic farmed salmon (Salmo salar) were extracted and separated into several lipid subclasses by thin-layer chromatography (TLC), while their fatty acid profile was fully characterised by GC-MS. Salmon total lipids (TL), total neutral lipids (TNL), total polar lipids (TPL), and each PL subclass obtained by TLC were further assessed for their in vitro effects towards PAF-induced and thrombin-induced platelet aggregation in human platelets. Salmon PL exhibited antithrombotic effects on human platelet aggregation, mostly through their strong inhibitory effects against the PAF pathway with IC50 values comparable to other marine PL, but with lower effects towards the thrombin pathway. PL fractions corresponding to phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine derivatives exhibited the most potent anti-PAF effects, while LC-MS analysis putatively elucidated their structure/function relationship. Several diacyl-PC/PE and alkyl-acyl-PC/PE species containing mostly docosahexaenoic acid at their sn-2 glycerol-backbone may be responsible for the bioactivity. The data presented suggests that salmon contains PL with strong antithrombotic bioactivities.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry metabolomics of goat milk with different polymorphism at the αS1-casein genotype locus.

Hyphenated gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and multivariate data analysis techniques were used to uncover milk metabolite differences in different αS1-casein genotypes of goats. By a discriminant GC-MS metabolomics approach, we characterized milk polar metabolites of 28 goats. Animals were selected on the basis of their genotypes as 7 goats classified heterozygous for weak or null alleles, 5 for the genotype EE, 9 for the genotypes AE and BE, and finally 7 for the strong genotype AA. Low molecular weight polar metabolite profile was tightly related to the different goat genotypes, milk production, and protein levels. Results of multivariate statistical analysis of GC-MS data demonstrate that different heterozygous and homozygous genotypes expressed different metabolites such as citric and aconitic acid for the strong allele class with different sugars and polyols for the weak class.

Metabolite profiles of formula milk compared to breast milk.

Breast milk (BM) feeding is the gold standard in neonate nutrition. When BM is not available it can be substituted or integrated with commercial formula milk (FM) usually sold under different brands and formulations. In this work, the low-molecular-weight hydrophilic compounds in milk were studied by gas chromatography electronic impact mass spectrometry (GC-MS), comparing eight different FM brands with BM samples. With the aid of multivariate statistical data analysis, a marked variability among FM brands, especially driven by the presence of prebiotics in their formulation, was highlighted. Quali-quantitative differences were found between FM and BM. Orotic acid and isomaltulose were found exclusively in FM, while phenylalanine and tyrosine levels were high in two FM brands. Moreover, higher levels of malic acid, sugars (glucose, fructose and galactose), and mannitol were detected in FM. On the other hand, BM showed a higher amino acid content. In conclusion, GC-MS proved to be a very sensitive analytical technique for the study of FM, highlighting metabolite differences among FM brands, and between FM and BM, that may have a possible strong impact on neonatal nutrition.