Dietary fish oil enriched in very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid reduces cardiometabolic risk factors and improves retinal function.

Very-long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (VLCPUFAs; C24-38) constitute a unique class of PUFA that have important biological roles, but the lack of a suitable dietary source has limited research in this field. We produced an n-3 C24-28-rich VLCPUFA-oil concentrated from fish oil to study its bioavailability and physiological functions in C57BL/6J mice. The serum and retinal C24:5 levels increased significantly compared to control after a single-dose gavage, and VLCPUFAs were incorporated into the liver, brain, and eyes after 8-week supplementation. Dietary VLCPUFAs resulted in favorable cardiometabolic changes, and improved electroretinography responses and visual performance. VLCPUFA supplementation changed the expression of genes involved in PPAR signaling pathways. Further in vitro studies demonstrated that the VLCPUFA-oil and chemically synthesized C24:5 are potent agonists for PPARs. The multiple potential beneficial effects of fish oil-derived VLCPUFAs on cardiometabolic risk and eye health in mice support future efforts to develop VLCPUFA-oil into a supplemental therapy.

Heterogeneity of the Fatty Acid Composition of Japanese Placentae for Determining the Perinatal Fatty Acid Status: a Methodological Study.

Analysis of the placenta can be a useful way to determine the fatty acid (FA) status of pregnant women and neonates since this large organ can be obtained easily and non-invasively. Although several studies have been conducted on using placental tissue for FA analysis, the sampling methods have not been thoroughly examined. The aim of the present study was to determine a suitable method of sampling human placentae by focusing on their heterogeneity. Twenty-four placentae were collected from healthy pregnant Japanese women in the Miyagi Prefecture of Japan. Five of them were used to compare the FA composition between the peripheral area and the central area of the placentae. The other 19 were examined to determine differences in the FA composition between the fetal and maternal side. Placental tissue crude lipid was saponified, and methyl was esterified with 14% sodium boron trifluoride methanol for gas chromatography with flame ionization detector analysis. Fifty-six peaks were detected from the methyl esters of the placental total lipid, and 33 of those were identified as FA methyl esters. There were considerable variations in the FA composition, as the variation was low in the central parts and high in the peripheral parts of the placentae. The 18:1n-9 and 18:2n-6 levels were higher in the fetal side, whereas the 20:3n-6, 20:4n-6, and 22:6n-3 levels were higher in the maternal side. These findings indicate the presence of heterogeneity in the FA composition of human placenta, and they suggest the necessity for standardizing the sampling method so that the placental tissue can be used to determine the FA status.

PEG-inhibitor conjugates: application of diphenyl alpha-aminoalkylphosphonate to removal of chymotrypsin.

Diphenyl 1-amino-2-phenylethylphosphonate was introduced to poly(ethylene glycol)s (PEGs) with average molecular masses of 300, 400, and 600 to prepare water-insoluble PEG-inhibitor conjugates. Interestingly, only the conjugate from PEG with an average molecular weight of 600 formed a precipitate with chymotrypsin but not with trypsin. The results demonstrated that the PEG-inhibitor conjugate is useful for separation of chymotrypsin.

Selective removal of chymotrypsin using diphenyl alpha-aminoalkylphosphonate immobilized on sepharose gel.

A diphenyl alpha-aminoalkylphosphonate derivative, which is an irreversible inhibitor of chymotrypsin-like serine proteases, was immobilized on cyanogen bromide-activated Sepharose, and the selective binding of chymotrypsin to the obtained inhibitor-gel was evaluated using batch and column methods. Complete removal of chymotrypsin in an aqueous solution was done using the column method, while partial removal was done using the batch method.