Phosphatidylethanolamine, fatty acid

Fig. 1. Chemical stmcture of phosphatidylcholine (PC) (1) and other related phosphohpids. R C O represents fatty acid residues. The choline fragment may be replaced by other moieties such as ethanolamine (2) to give phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), inositol (3) to give phosphatidylinositol (PI), serine (4), or glycerol (5). IfH replaces choline, the compound is phosphatidic acid (6). The corresponding lUPAC-lUB names ate (1), l,2-diacyl-t -glyceto(3)phosphocholine (2), l,2-diacyl-t -glyceto(3)phosphoethanolamine (3), 1,2-diacyl-t -glyceto(3)phosphoinositol (4), 1,2-diacyl-t -glyceto(3)phospho-L-serine and (5), l,2-diacyl-t -glyceto(3)phospho(3)-t -glycetol.

Browning Reactions. The fluorescent components formed in the browning reaction (8) of peroxidized phosphatidylethanolamine are produced mainly by interaction of the amine group of PE and saturated aldehydes produced through the decomposition of fatty acid hydroperoxides. 

Other Reactions of Phospholipids. The unsaturated fatty acid groups in soybean lecithin can be halogenated. Acetic anhydride combined with the amino group of phosphatidylethanolamine forms acetylated compounds. PhosphoHpids form addition compounds with salts of heavy metals. Phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidjhnositol have affinities for calcium and magnesium ions that are related to interaction with their polar groups. 

Food. Lecithin is a widely used nutritional supplement rich ia polyunsaturated fatty acids, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidjhnositol, and organically combiaed phosphoms, with emulsifying and antioxidant properties (38). 

The regulation of triacylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine biosynthesis is driven by the availability of free fatty acids. Those that escape oxidation are preferentiaUy converted to phos-phohpids, and when this requirement is satisfied they are used for triacylglycerol synthesis. 

B, phosphatidylethanolamine C, phosphatidylglycerol D, diphosphatidylglycerol (cardiolipin). Ra.COO and Rb.COO are fatty acid residues. 

FIGURE 12.4 (A) Diagrammatic representation of the separation of major simple lipid classes on silica gel TLC — solvent system hexane diethylether formic acid (80 20 2) (CE = cholesteryl esters, WE = wax esters, HC = hydrocarbon, EEA = free fatty acids, TG = triacylglycerol, CHO = cholesterol, DG = diacylglycerol, PL = phospholipids and other complex lipids). (B) Diagrammatic representation of the separation of major phospholipids on silica gel TLC — solvent sytem chloroform methanol water (70 30 3) (PA = phosphatidic acid, PE = phosphatidylethanolamine, PS = phosphatidylserine, PC = phosphatidylcholine, SPM = sphingomyelin, LPC = Lysophosphatidylcholine). 

PC = phosphatidylcholine, PE = phosphatidylethanolamine, PS = phosphatidylserine, PI = phosphati-dylinositol, Sph = sphingomyelin, FA = fatty acid, PA = phosphatidic acid, LPI = lyso-PI, CL = car-diolipin, LPC = Iyso-PC, CHO = cholesterol, CE = cholesterol ester, TG = triglycerides. 

Key Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) /V-a-PEA = /V-arachidonoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine. 

Jumpsen J, Lien EL, Goh YK, Clandinin MT. 1997. Small changes of dietary (n-6) and (n-3)/fatty acid content ration alter phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphatidylcholine fatty acid composition during development of neuronal and glial cells in rats. J Nutr 127 724-731. 

Lipid transfer peptides and proteins occur in eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. In vitro they possess the ability to transfer phospholipids between lipid membranes. Plant lipid transfer peptides are unspecific in their substrate selectivity. They bind phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, and glycolipids. Some of these peptides have shown antifungal activity in vitro The sequences of lipid transfer proteins and peptides contain 91-95 amino acids, are basic, and have eight cysteine residues forming four disulfide bonds. They do not contain tryptophan residues. About 40% of the sequence adopts a helical structure with helices linked via disulfide bonds. The tertiary structure comprises four a-helices. The three-dimensional structure of a lipid transfer peptide from H. vulgare in complex with palmitate has been solved by NMR. In this structure the fatty acid is caged in a hydrophobic cavity formed by the helices. 

Several studies have evaluated the effects of oral di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate on various aspects of hepatic lipid metabolism. Feeding di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (2% of diet) to male Wistar rats for seven days resulted in increased hepatic fatty acid-binding protein as well as in increased microsomal stearoyl-CoA desaturation activity (Kawashima et al., 1983a,b). Feeding the compound at this dose for 14 days resulted in increased levels of hepatic phospholipids and a decline in phosphatidyl-choline phosphatidylethanolamine ratio (Yanagita et al., 1987). Feeding di(2-ethyl-hexyl) adipate (2% of diet) to male NZB mice for five days resulted in induction of fatty acid translocase, fatty acid transporter protein and fatty acid binding protein in the liver (Motojima et al., 1998). 

Hosokawa, M., Sato, A., Ishigamori, H., Kohno, H., Tanaka, T., and Takahashi, K. (2001). Synergistic effects of highly unsaturated fatty acid-containing phosphatidylethanolamine on differentiation of human leukemia HL-60 cells by dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate, jpn. ]. Cancer Res. 92, 666-672. 

Table 3.7 The fatty acid composition of cholesteryl esters, phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine in the milks of some species... 

The membrane contains 0.5-1.0% of the total lipid in milk and is composed principally of phospholipids and neutral lipids in the approximate ratio 2 1, with lesser amounts of other lipids (Tables 3.9 and 3.10) contamination with core lipid is a major problem. The phospholipids are principally phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine and sphingomyelin in the approximate ratio 2 2 1. The principal fatty acids and their approximate percentages in the phospholipids are Cl4 0 (5%), C16 0 (25%), C18 0 (14%), C,8 1 (25%), C18 2 (9%), C22 o (3%) and C24 0 (3%). Thus, the membrane contains a significantly higher level of polyunsaturated fatty acids than milk... 

Some of the earlier data tabulated by Morrison (1970) on the fatty acid compositions of milk phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, and sphingomyelin are shown in Table 4.10. Included are analyses by Boatman et al. (1969) on phosphatidylethanolamine and phosphati-dylserine and by Bracco et al (1972) on phosphatidylinositol. The differences in composition between the samples of phosphatidylethanolamine and -serine can be attributed primarily to differences in metabolism. 

Morrison et al (1965) reported the positional distribution of the fatty acids in phosphatidylethanolamine, -serine, and -choline. In contrast to the TGs, the phospholipids had no short chain acids and many more long chain unsaturates. There were more unsaturates in phosphatidylethanolamine than in -serine or -choline. The distribution of the acids between sn-1 and sn-2 is similar to that observed in other tissues, with... 

Hay and Morrison (1971) later presented additional data on the fatty acid composition and structure of milk phosphatidylethanolamine and -choline. Additionally, phytanic acid was found only in the 1-position of the two phospholipids. The steric hindrance presented by the four methyl branches apparently prevents acylation at the 2-position. The fairly even distribution of monoenoic acids between the two positions is altered when the trans isomers are considered, as a marked asymmetry appears with 18 1 between the 1- and 2-positions of phosphatidylethanolamine, but not of phosphatidylcholine. Biologically, the trans isomers are apparently handled the same as the equivalent saturates because the latter have almost the same distribution. There are no appreciable differences in distribution of cis or trans positional isomers between positions 1 and 2 in either phospholipid. Another structural asymmetry observed is where cis, cis nonconjugated 18 2s are located mostly in the 2-position in both phospholipids. It appears that one or more trans double bonds in the 18 2s hinders the acylation of these acids to the 2-position. 

Figure 21-3 Major pathways of synthesis of fatty acids and glycerolipids in the green plant Arabidopsis. The major site of fatty acid synthesis is chloroplasts. Most is exported to the cytosol as oleic acid (18 1). After conversion to its coenzyme A derivative it is converted to phosphatidic acid (PA), diacylglycerol (DAG), and the phospholipids phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylinositol (PI), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). Desaturation also occurs, and some linoleic and linolenic acids are returned to the chloroplasts. See text also. From Sommerville and Browse.106 See also Figs. 21-4 and 21-5. Other abbreviations monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGD), digalactosyldiacylglycerol (DGD), sulfolipid (SL), glycerol 3-phosphate (G3P), lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), acyl carrier protein (ACP), cytidine diphosphate-DAG (CDP-DAG).

Lipids are the major components of membranes they have complex structures comprising fatty acids esterified with alcohols to form glycerides, and other lipids based upon esters of phosphatidylethanolamine. Other important lipid components are based on sterols. Within this hydrophobic structure, proteins provide ports of entry and exit from the interior of the cell and distinguish the inside from the outside of the cell. Figure 5.5 illustrates the complexity of this structure. 

Glycerophospholipids contain a glycerol skeleton to which two fatty acids are esterified saturated fatty acids occupy mostly sn-position 1, whereas unsaturated fatty acids are mainly present on sn-position 2. The third hydroxyl is linked to a phosphate group to which an organic base is mostly esterified (Fig. 1). The most important components of soybean lecithin are phosphatidylcholine (PC), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and phosphatidylinositol (PI). Phosphatidic acid (PA) may become important due to the presence of phospholipase D this enzyme slowly converts PC into PA in vegetable lecithins. Phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and lyso-phosphatidylcholine (LPC) are known as minor components lysophospholipids contain only one acyl group per molecule. Besides, ether phospholipids occur in which one or both fatty acyl... 

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