Effect of broccoli phytochemical extract on release of fatty acids from salmon muscle and salmon oil during in vitro digestion.

The aim of the present work was to study the effect of a broccoli phytochemical extract (Br-ex) on the release of fatty acids (FA) from salmon muscle (SM) and salmon oil (SO) during in vitro digestion. The hypothesis of the study was that Br-ex contains polyphenols which might act as pancreatic lipase inhibitors. The effect on the release of specific FA, in particular the long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), EPA (C20:5 n-3) and DHA (C22:6 n-3), was recorded, and the impact of the SM matrix was studied by comparing the release of FA from SM and SO. In vitro digestion was performed and lipolytic activity, measured as the release of fatty acids (FFA) by solid phase extraction and GC-FID, was recorded at 20, 40, 80 and 140 minutes in the intestinal phase. The results showed, unexpectedly, that Br-ex stimulated the release of FA during digestion of SO and SM, showing the highest increases in FFA, 67% and 64%, respectively, at 20 min. No difference in the release of FA from SO compared to SM was observed, suggesting that the SM matrix had minor influence on the lipolytic activity. The results also demonstrated that the increase in lipolytic activity caused by Br-ex was not affected by the SM matrix. However, addition of Br-ex resulted in a lower percentage of EPA and DHA in the FFA fraction, suggesting that the lipase sn-position preference was altered. Whether this affects the bioaccessibility of EPA and DHA needs further investigation.

Fish oil supplementation induces expression of genes related to cell cycle, endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells: a transcriptomic approach.

BACKGROUND: Fish oil supplementation has been shown to alter gene expression of mononuclear cells both in vitro and in vivo. However, little is known about the total transcriptome profile in healthy subjects after intake of fish oil. We therefore investigated the gene expression profile in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) after intake of fish oil for 7 weeks using transcriptome analyses. DESIGN: In a 7-week, double-blinded, randomized, controlled, parallel-group study, healthy subjects received 8 g day(-1) fish oil (1.6 g day(-1) eicosapentaenoic acid + docosahexaenoic acid) (n = 17) or 8 g day(-1) high oleic sunflower oil (n = 19). Microarray analyses of RNA isolated from PBMCs were performed at baseline and after 7 weeks of intervention. RESULTS: Cell cycle, DNA packaging and chromosome organization are biological processes found to be upregulated after intake of fish oil compared to high oleic sunflower oil using a moderated t-test. In addition, gene set enrichment analysis identified several enriched gene sets after intake of fish oil. The genes contributing to the significantly different gene sets in the subjects given fish oil compared with the control group are involved in cell cycle, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and apoptosis. Gene transcripts with common motifs for 35 known transcription factors including E2F, TP53 and ATF4 were upregulated after intake of fish oil. CONCLUSION: We have shown that intake of fish oil for 7 weeks modulates gene expression in PBMCs of healthy subjects. The increased expression of genes related to cell cycle, ER stress and apoptosis suggests that intake of fish oil may modulate basic cellular processes involved in normal cellular function.

Effects of an isocaloric healthy Nordic diet on insulin sensitivity, lipid profile and inflammation markers in metabolic syndrome -- a randomized study (SYSDIET).

BACKGROUND: Different healthy food patterns may modify cardiometabolic risk. We investigated the effects of an isocaloric healthy Nordic diet on insulin sensitivity, lipid profile, blood pressure and inflammatory markers in people with metabolic syndrome. METHODS: We conducted a randomized dietary study lasting for 18-24 weeks in individuals with features of metabolic syndrome (mean age 55 years, BMI 31.6 kg m(-2) , 67% women). Altogether 309 individuals were screened, 200 started the intervention after 4-week run-in period, and 96 (proportion of dropouts 7.9%) and 70 individuals (dropouts 27%) completed the study, in the Healthy diet and Control diet groups, respectively. Healthy diet included whole-grain products, berries, fruits and vegetables, rapeseed oil, three fish meals per week and low-fat dairy products. An average Nordic diet served as a Control diet. Compliance was monitored by repeated 4-day food diaries and fatty acid composition of serum phospholipids. RESULTS: Body weight remained stable, and no significant changes were observed in insulin sensitivity or blood pressure. Significant changes between the groups were found in non-HDL cholesterol (-0.18, mmol L(-1) 95% CI -0.35; -0.01, P = 0.04), LDL to HDL cholesterol (-0.15, -0.28; -0.00, P = 0.046) and apolipoprotein B to apolipoprotein A1 ratios (-0.04, -0.07; -0.00, P = 0.025) favouring the Healthy diet. IL-1 Ra increased during the Control diet (difference -84, -133; -37 ng L(-1) , P = 0.00053). Intakes of saturated fats (E%, beta estimate 4.28, 0.02; 8.53, P = 0.049) and magnesium (mg, -0.23, -0.41; -0.05, P = 0.012) were associated with IL-1 Ra. CONCLUSIONS: Healthy Nordic diet improved lipid profile and had a beneficial effect on low-grade inflammation.

Oxidative stability and sensory quality of meat from broiler chickens fed a bacterial meal produced on natural gas.

Bacterial meal (BPM) produced from bacteria grown on natural gas is a feed source containing approximately 70% CP and 10% lipids with predominantly C16:0 and C16:1 fatty acids. The effect of increasing dietary levels (0, 40, 80, or 120 g/kg) of BPM on fatty acid composition, the profile of volatiles by dynamic headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and sensory quality of frozen-stored broiler chicken thigh meat was examined. Increasing levels of BPM increased (linear, P < 0.0001) the content of saturated fatty acids, tended (linear, P = 0.05) to increase the content of monounsaturated fatty acids, and tended (linear, P = 0.08) to decrease the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in the meat. Feeding BPM reduced (linear, P ≤ 0.03) levels of the volatile lipid oxidation products butanal, hexanal, heptanal, and nonanal in the meat during frozen storage but had no significant effects on the sensory quality parameters related to odor and flavor. The presence of antioxidants in BPM may have reduced lipid oxidation in the meat. To conclude, adding BPM to diets reduced the formation of volatile lipid oxidation products during frozen storage of the broiler thigh meat. Dynamic headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was a more sensitive method in detecting early lipid oxidation compared with TBA reactive substances and sensory quality analyses in broiler thigh meat.

Increased myocardial matrix metalloproteinases in hypoxic newborn pigs during resuscitation: effects of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

BACKGROUND: Perinatal asphyxia is associated with cardiac dysfunction, and it is important to prevent further tissue injury during resuscitation. There is increasing evidence that myocardial matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are involved in myocardial hypoxaemia-reoxygenation injury. OBJECTIVE: To assess MMPs and antioxidant capacity in newborn pigs after global ischaemia and subsequent resuscitation with ambient air or 100% O(2) at different PaCO(2)-levels. METHODS: Newborn pigs (12-36 h of age) were resuscitated for 30 min by ventilation with 21% or 100% O(2) at different PaCO(2) levels after a hypoxic insult, and thereafter observed for 150 min. In myocardial tissue extracts, MMPs were analyzed by gelatin zymography and broad matrix-degrading capacity (total MMP). Total endogenous antioxidant capacity in myocardial tissue extracts was measured by the oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay. RESULTS: Matrix metalloproteinase-2 more than doubled from baseline values (P < 0.001), and was higher in piglets resuscitated with 100% O(2) than with ambient air (P = 0.012). The ORAC value was considerably decreased (P < 0.001). In piglets with elevated PaCO(2), total MMP-activity in the right ventricle was more increased than in the left ventricle (P = 0.008). In the left ventricle, total MMPactivity was higher in the piglets with low PaCO(2) than in the piglets with elevated PaCO(2) (P = 0.013). CONCLUSION: In hypoxaemia-reoxygenation injury the MMP-2 level was highly increased and was most elevated in the piglets resuscitated with 100% O(2). Antioxidant capacity was considerably decreased. Assessed by total MMP-activity, elevated PaCO(2) during resuscitation might protect the left ventricle, and probably increase right ventricle injury of the myocardium.

Growth and toxin profiles of Bacillus cereus isolated from different food sources.

Eleven strains of Bacillus cereus isolated from milk and meat products have been used to study growth and sporulation profiles in detail. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers detecting cold shock protein A gene signatures (cspA), showed that none of the strains were the newly suggested species in the B. cereus group, B. weihenstephanensis, comprising psychrotolerant cereus strains, although one of the strains grew at 4 degrees C, two at 6 degrees C and seven grew at 7 degrees C. One of the two strains that grew at 6 degrees C had a maximum growth temperature of 42 degrees C, while the remaining 10 strains all grew at temperature of 43 degrees C or higher. Only three strains grew at 48 degrees C. At 42 degrees C, the generation time varied between 11 and 34 min. Spore germination was much faster for the two strains that grew at 6 degrees C than for the other nine strains in milk at 7 degrees C and 10 degrees C. All strains were cytotoxic and contained the non-haemolytic enterotoxin gene (nhe), 10 strains contained the enterotoxin T gene (bceT), and only six had the gene (hbl) encoding haemolytic enterotoxin. Two strains showed some microheterogeneity in the nhe operon. but contained all three genes. We can conclude that true B. cereus strains can have growth profiles as expected for B. weihenstephanensis, and that nhe and bceT were not correlated with growth profiles. However, the two psychrotolerant strains with minimal growth temperature of 4 degrees C and 6 degrees C did not contain hbl, as judged from our PCR results.

Intermediates and products formed during fatty acid alpha-oxidation in cucumber (Cucumis sativus).

Fatty acid alpha-oxidation is an essential metabolic pathway both in plants and in mammals which is still not completely understood. We previously described and purified an alpha-oxidation enzyme in cucumber which has been used in the present investigation of the alpha-oxidation reaction mechanism. Free fatty acids, and not the CoA thioesters, were found to undergo alpha-oxidation in cucumber. 2-Hydroxy- and 2-oxopalmitic acids were identified as palmitic acid alpha-oxidation intermediates by high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis in cucumber subcellular 150,000 x g(max) pellets obtained by differential centrifugation. Incubation of purified alpha-oxidation enzyme with [1-14C]palmitic acid resulted in the formation of both the above-described intermediates and the Cn-1 product, pentadecanal, and 14CO2. Besides 14CO2, 14C-formate was identified as an alpha-oxidation product from [1-14C]palmitic acid in cucumber subcellular fractions. Fe2+ stimulated the 14CO2 and 14C-formate production, and the addition of ascorbate and 2-oxoglutarate together with Fe2+ resulted in optimal alpha-oxidation activities, suggesting a dioxygenase reaction mechanism, as previously shown in mammals. NADPH and, to a lesser extent, NADH stimulated the total 14C-formate plus 14CO2 production but had only slight or no effects on 14CO2 production. H2O2 showed concentration-dependent inhibitory effects, while FAD had neither effect on 14CO2 nor 14CO2 plus 14C-formate production. The results in the present study demonstrate that an alpha-oxidation enzyme in cucumber is capable of oxidizing palmitic acid via 2-hydroxy- and 2-oxo-palmitic acid to produce pentadecanal and CO2. In contrast to the subcellular 150,000 x g(max) fraction, the purified alpha-oxidation enzyme could neither produce formate nor convert 14C-formate into 14C02, indicating two possible alpha-oxidation routes in cucumber.

Fatty acid alpha-oxidation of tetradecylthioacetic acid and tetradecylthiopropionic acid in cucumber (Cucumis sativus).

Fatty acid alpha-oxidation in cucumber (Cucumis sativus) involves enzymatic conversion of long-chain Cn-fatty acids to the C(n-1)-aldehyde and CO2. However, the mechanism of this process is not well understood. In this study, the alpha-oxidation of the fatty acid analogues tetradecylthioacetic acid (TTA) and tetradecylthiopropionic acid (TTP) with a sulphur atom substituting the methylene group in positions 3 and 4, respectively, was investigated and compared to palmitic acid. Both [1-14C]TTA and [1-14C]TTP could be alpha-oxidised in the cucumber subcellular 150000xgmax fraction. [1-14C]TTP was an even better substrate compared to the natural palmitic acid, while [1-14C]TTA was alpha-oxidised to a lower extent. [2-14C]TTA revealed no 14CO2, indicating that only one cycle of alpha-oxidation occurred. TTA was an inhibitor of the palmitic acid alpha-oxidation, and the inhibitory effects were examined.

Long-chain saturated fatty acids can be alpha-oxidised by a purified enzyme (M(r) 240,000) in cucumber (Cucumis sativus).

An enzyme (M(r) 240,000) with high fatty acid alpha-oxidation activity has been purified from the fruit of cucumber (Cucumis sativus). The specific alpha-oxidation activity in the purified fraction was 370 nmol/min per mg protein determined as liberation of 14CO2 from [1-14C]palmitic acid. alpha-Oxidation activity was observed both in the 12,000 x g pellet and 150,000 x g pellet by differential fractionation of cucumber homogenate. The enzyme was purified about 220-fold to near homogeneity from a 12,000 x g fraction by solubilisation with Triton X-100R, ammonium sulphate precipitation, hydrophobic interaction and anion-exchange chromatographies and Superose 12 gel filtration. The molecular mass of the native enzyme was 240,000, and the major subunit molecular mass of 40,000 indicated an oligomeric structure.