Human milk phospholipids (HMPLs) play an indispensable role in the neurodevelopment and growth of infants. In this study, a total of 37 phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) species and 139 phospholipid molecular species were detected from human milk and other natural phospholipid sources (including 5 animal-derived species and 2 plant species). Moreover, a similarity evaluation model for HMPLs was established, including phospholipid classes, PLFAs, and phospholipid molecular species, to evaluate their natural substitutes. The closest scores for HMPL substitute in these three dimensions was 0.89, 0.72, and 0.77, which belonged to mare milk, goat milk, and camel milk, respectively. The highest comprehensive similarity score was obtained by camel milk at 0.75, while the lowest score was observed in soybean phospholipid (0.22). Therefore, these results not only monitored the stereochemical structure of HMPLs and their substitutes, but also further provided new insights for the development of infant formulae.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop an anti-aging nanoformulation with Curcuma heyneana extract as bioactive substance.
BACKGROUND: Curcuma heyneana Valeton & Zipj extract has been proven in previous research to have antioxidant, anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory, and wound healing properties, which makes it a potential bioactive material for anti-ageing and sunscreen cosmetic products. Phytoantioxidants need to penetrate into deeper skin layers to ensure effectivity. Thus, a transdermal delivery system is needed to deliver the extract to a deeper skin layer.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to compare the permeability and anti-ageing activity of liposomal and ethosomal formulations of C. heynena rhizome ethanolic extract.
METHODS: In this study, C. heyneana extract was loaded into a phospholipid vesicular system in the form of liposome and ethosome formulations using the ethanolic injection method. The anti-ageing activity was assessed by analyzing the epidermal thickness, number of sunburn cells, distance between collagen fibres, and number of fibroblasts. While the histologic specimen scoring was carried out for the in vivo penetration study.
RESULTS: The ethosomal formulation had been found to have better penetration ability since it was able to reach the lower dermis area compared to the liposomes, which only reached the upper dermis. The ethosomal formulation of C. heyneana extract exhibited a better anti-ageing activity based on the parameters of epidermal thickness, sunburn cell count, fibroblast count, and the distance between collagen fibres in rat skin histology.
CONCLUSIONS: Ethosomes have been found to be a more proficient carrier system for transdermal delivery of C. heyneana extract compared to liposomes. Meanwhile, their penetration correlated with the effectivity of the formulation, suggesting that the vesicular system enhanced the penetration ability of the extract.

In this study, the internal relationships among oil bodies (OBs), the protein-phospholipid interactions in aqueous phase, oil-water interface behavior, and the stability of reconstituted OBs were analyzed from the bulk phase, interface, and macro perspectives, and the stability mechanism of OBs was discussed. OB proteins and phospholipids were combined through hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions, resulting in the stretching of protein conformation. OB proteins and phospholipids act synergistically to increase interface pressure and the rate of increase in interface pressure with relatively stable elastic behavior, which is beneficial to the formation and stability of interfacial films. When OBs were reconstituted by an OB protein-phospholipid complex system, phospholipids bound to OB proteins through hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. OB proteins and phospholipids uniformly covered the oil droplet surface of reconstituted OBs to form a stable interfacial film, which maintained the stability of OBs. The addition of phospholipids significantly reduced the particle size of OBs prepared by OB proteins in a dose-dependent manner, and particle size decreased with the increase in phospholipid content (p < 0.05). Phospholipids increased the net surface charge, enhanced electrostatic repulsion, and improved the physicochemical stability of reconstituted OBs. The stability mechanism elucidated in this study provides a theoretical basis for the demulsification of peanut OBs.

Liver cancer is generally considered the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) contributes to more than 90% of liver cancers. The altered lipid metabolism for rapid cancer cell growth and tumor formation has been frequently proven. In this study, an ambient ionization mass spectrometry technique, rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry (REIMS) using a monopolar electric knife, called iKnife, was systematically optimized and employed for ex vivo analysis of 12 human HCC tumor tissue specimens together with the paired paracancerous tissue (PT) and noncancerous liver tissue (NCT) specimens. Nine free fatty acids and 34 phospholipids were tentatively identified according to their extract masses and/or tandem mass spectra. With the help of statistical methods, 7 free fatty acids and 10 phospholipids were distributed differently in 3 types of liver tissue specimens (95% confidence interval). The box plots showed these characterized lipid metabolites varied in PT, HCC, and NCT. Compared with PT and NCT, the upregulations of four common fatty acids FA 18:0, FA 20:4, FA 16:0, and FA 18:1, together with phospholipids PC 36:1, PE 38:3, PE (18:0/20:4), PA (O-36:1), PC (32:1), PC 32:0, PE 34:0, and PC (16:0/18:1), were found in HCC specimens. The sensitivity and specificity of the established statistic model for real-time HCC tumor diagnosis were 100% and 90.5%, respectively. This study demonstrated that the described REIMS technique is a potential method for rapid lipidomic analysis and characterization of HCC tumor tissue.

Milk phospholipids (PLs) are critical components of infant growth. This study aimed to discover PL in mature human milk (HM) from China (n = 201) and mainly assessed the effect caused by sampled regions. The average total PL concentration was quantified from 3.65 to 11.25 mg per g of lipid, and the major PL class identified was sphingomyelin (SM, 38.06-47.62 %), followed by phosphatidylcholine (PC, 29.61-34.39 %), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE, 10.54-24.46 %). In addition, the 36:2 (18:0/18:2), 38:6 (16:0/22:6), 40:1 (d18:1/22:0), and 42:2 (d18:1/24:1) were the most abundant molecular species identified in glycerophospholipid and SM molecular species respectively. Some PL molecular species were strongly related with region of sampling, like lysophosphatidylinositol 18:1 was only detected in Beijing. In conclusion, those findings showed that the PL molecular species and concentration of HM had significant regional diversity, and it will give the Chinese human milk database more accurate PL data.

Dairy-derived lipids such as phospholipids (PL) have been gaining interest due to their functional and nutritional properties. Our research goal was to develop a separation process (nonsolvent based) to produce an enriched dairy lipid fraction from whey protein phospholipid concentrate (WPPC). Various chemical pretreatments (i.e., adjustment of pH, calcium, or temperature) were applied to rehydrated commercial WPPC solutions. These treatments were done on a bench-top scale to aid in the precipitation of proteins or PL. The chemically treated solutions were centrifuged and fractionated into the following 3 layers: (1) top fat layer, (2) supernatant in the middle zone, and (3) sediment at the bottom of the centrifuge tubes. The thickness and size of the layers varied with the treatment parameters. Compositional analysis of each layer showed that the proteins, fat, and PL always appeared to fractionate in similar proportions. The proteins in each layer were characterized using sodium dodecyl sulfate-PAGE under reducing and nonreducing conditions. Different proteins including whey proteins, caseins, and milk fat globule membrane proteins and lipoproteins were identified, and no specific type of protein had an affinity for either the top or bottom layer. All types of proteins were present in each of the layers after centrifugation, and there were no major differences in fractionation of the proteins between layers with respect to the chemical treatment applied. The microstructure of protein and fat in WPPC was investigated using confocal laser scanning microscopy. Dual staining of the rehydrated WPPC solution with Fast Green FCF (proteins) and Nile Red (lipids) showed the presence of very large protein aggregates that varied in size from 20 to 150 μm, with fat trapped within these aggregates. The confocal laser scanning microscopy images of liquid WPPC revealed fine strands of a weak protein network surrounding the fat globules. This indicated that there were specific interactions between the proteins, as well as between the fat and proteins in WPPC. Sodium dodecyl sulfate treatment was performed to understand the nature of the interactions between protein and fat. We found that about 35% of the fat present in WPPC was in the form of free fat, which was only physically entrapped within the protein aggregates. The remaining fat had some form of association with the proteins in WPPC. Other fractionation techniques would be needed to obtain an enriched dairy lipid fraction.

Methods for efficient cyclodextrin-induced lipid exchange have been developed in our lab. These make it possible to almost completely replace the lipids in the outer leaflet of artificial membranes or the plasma membranes of living cells with exogenous lipids. Lipid replacement/substitution allows detailed studies of how lipid composition and asymmetry influence the structure and function of membrane domains and membrane proteins. In this review, we both summarize progress on cyclodextrin exchange in cells, mainly by the use of methyl-alpha cyclodextrin to exchange phospholipids and sphingolipids, and discuss the issues to consider when carrying out lipid exchange experiments upon cells. Issues that impact interpretation of lipid exchange are also discussed. This includes how overly naïve interpretation of how lipid exchange-induced changes in domain formation can impact protein function.

Decreased concentration of phospholipids were observed in brain tissue from individuals with dementia compared with controls, indicating phospholipids might be a key variable in development of age-related cognitive impairment. The reflection of these phospholipid changes in blood might provide both reference for diagnosis/monitoring and potential targets for intervention through peripheral circulation. Using a full-scale targeted phospholipidomic approach, 229 molecular species of plasma phospholipid were identified and quantified among 626 senile residents; the association of plasma phospholipids with MoCA score was also comprehensively discussed. Significant association was confirmed between phospholipid matrix and MoCA score by a distance-based linear model. Additionally, the network analysis further observed that two modules containing PEs were positively associated with MoCA score, and one module containing LPLs had a trend of negative correlation with MoCA score. Furthermore, 23 phospholipid molecular species were found to be significantly associated with MoCA score independent of fasting glucose, lipidemia, lipoproteins, inflammatory variables and homocysteine. Thus, the decreased levels of pPEs containing LC-PUFA and the augmented levels of LPLs were the most prominent plasma phospholipid changes correlated with the cognitive decline, while alterations in plasma PC, PS and SM levels accompanying cognitive decline might be due to variation of lipidemia and inflammatory levels.

HDL particles can be structurally modified in atherosclerotic disorders associated with low HDL cholesterol level (HDL-C). We studied whether the lipidome of the main phosphatidylcholine (PC), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and sphingomyelin (SM) species of HDL2 and HDL3 subfractions is associated with premature coronary heart disease (CHD) or metabolic syndrome (MetS) in families where common low HDL-C predisposes to premature CHD. The lipidome was analyzed by LC-MS. Lysophosphatidylcholines were depleted of linoleic acid relative to more saturated and shorter-chained acids containing species in MetS compared with non-affected subjects: the ratio of palmitic to linoleic acid was elevated by more than 30%. A minor PC (16:0/16:1) was elevated (28-40%) in MetS. The contents of oleic acid containing PCs were elevated relative to linoleic acid containing PCs in MetS; the ratio of PC (16:0/18:1) to PC (16:0/18:2) was elevated by 11-16%. Certain PC and SM ratios, e.g., PC (18:0/20:3) to PC (16:0/18:2) and a minor SM 36:2 to an abundant SM 34:1, were higher (11-36%) in MetS and CHD. The fatty acid composition of certain LPCs and PCs displayed a characteristic pattern in MetS, enriched with palmitic, palmitoleic or oleic acids relative to linoleic acid. Certain PC and SM ratios related consistently to CHD and MetS.

Previous studies have reported that phospholipids rich in n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LCPUFA) in the form of liposome exhibited superior bioactivities than other formulation. However, the digestion and absorption characteristics of n-3 LCPUFA-enriched phospholipids were still unclear, restricting the molecular mechanism analysis related to their distinctive activities. The aim of the present study was to compare the digestion and absorption characteristics of DHA/EPA-PC in the forms of liposome and emulsion. The fatty acid composition and lipid species in serum, intestinal wall and content of healthy mice were determined after oral administration with DHA/EPA-PC. Results showed that the peak value of serum DHA/EPA level in the liposome group was significantly higher than that of the emulsion group (p < 0.05), although the peak in the liposome group appeared at 3 h and the peak time was 2 h in the emulsion group. Lipidomics analysis indicated that the high levels of total PL and PL-DHA could be retained in serum for a substantial period after administration of the DHA/EPA-PC liposome, which might be attributed to that the DHA/EPA-PC in the form of liposomes was hydrolyzed slower by pancreatic phospholipase A2 than the emulsion form in small intestinal content. The obtained results might provide theoretical basis for the development and utilization of marine-derived phospholipids.