Analysis of Sphingolipid Classes and Their Contents in Meals

Abstract

Sphingolipids have attracted attention as physiologically functional lipids. We determined their class and content in Japanese meals that had been prepared by a nutritionist, mainly by using HPLC-ELSD. In all 12 meals tested, cerebroside and/or sphingomyelin were generally detected as the major sphingolipids. The total amounts of sphingolipids in typical high-and lowcalorie meal samples over 2 days were 292 and 128 mg/ day, and 81 and 45 mg/day, respectively. Key words: sphingolipid; cerebroside; sphingomyelin; ceramide; daily intake Sphingolipids are known to exist in eukaryotes as components of the biological membrane and are involved in cellular membrane traffic and signal transduction. 1,2) Moreover, sphingomyelin, glucosylceramide (cerebroside) and ceramide are abundantly present in an animal epidermis in spite of differences due to species. [3][4][5] Of these, free ceramide included in the human stratum corneum has the function of epidermal moisture retention or as a protection system against external irritation. 6,7) Various physiological functions of dietary sphingolipids, such as preventing early-stage colon cancer [8][9][10] and improving the skin barrier function, 11,12) have been demonstrated. The most common sphingolipid currently used as a foodstuff is cerebroside extracted from plants, which is mainly composed of sphingoid bases distinctive from those of mammals, the plant type being sphingadienine and phytosphingosine and the mammal type being 4-trans sphingenine (d18:1 4t ) as major sphingoid bases. However, apart from d18:1 4t , the sphingoid bases are hardly absorbed in the intestinal tract. 13,14) It is considered that the routinely ingested sphingolipids are mainly sphingomyelin from animal foodstuffs and mainly cerebroside from plant foodstuffs. 15,16) In reports concerning the intake of sphingolipids, Vesper et al. have summarized the amounts of sphingolipids in foods from estimated data in the available literature; 15) however, their class and how much sphingolipid is ingested daily have not been clarified. In addition, Sugawara and Miyazawa have reported the daily intake estimated from the contents of cerebroside in various plant foodstuffs. 16) The classes and contents of sphingolipids in certain meals for healthy energetic people cooked by a nutritionist were analyzed in the present study. Typical meals for older people, which are generally low-calorie, were also comparatively investigated.Six meal samples (breakfast, lunch and dinner) in 2 d for healthy energetic people were kindly donated by the Kushiro station of the Ground Self-Defense Force (Hokkaido, Japan). Six meal samples for 2 d prepared in a home for senior citizens in Nakasatsunai-mura (Kasaigun, Hokkaido, Japan) were used as low-calorie meals. The composition of food groups and calories in each meal are shown in Table 1. The energy content of the high-calorie (HC) meals from the Self Defense Force was approximately 3,000 kcal per day, exceeding the recommendations for regular Japanese men of 1,800 to 2,000 kcal; however, t...

Effects of Dietary Plant-Origin Glucosylceramide on Bowel Inflammation in DSS-Treated Mice

“…This amount was essentially the same as that used in an earlier study 21 . Yunoki et al 22 reported an analysis of sphingolipid contents in sample Japanese meals. They reported that the total amount of sphingolipids in typical high-and low-calorie meal samples for healthy Japanese human subjects was 50-200 mg/day.…”

Analysis of Glucosylceramides from Various Sources by Liquid Chromatography-Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry

“…determined sphingolipid content in Japanese meals by using HPLC-ELSD, and showed that total amounts of sphingolipids in typical high-and low-calorie meal were 128-292 mg/day and 45-81 mg/day, respectively 27 . Therefore, significant amounts of sphingolipids having various structures of sphingoid bases are ingested daily from foodstuff.…”

Improving Skin Hydration and Age-related Symptoms by Oral Administration of Wheat Glucosylceramides and Digalactosyl Diglycerides: A Human Clinical Study

“…At present, there is no routine technical solution to quantify all ceramide species. Thus, the more detailed analysis in WPLC has focused on the GluCers class, which have been previously defined as the principal markers of ceramides from plant sources [19][20][21]. Data are presented in Table 2.…”

“…The main dietary sphingolipid species that we ingest from cereals and plants is represented by glucosylceramides [12,[19][20][21][22][23][24]. Cereal sphingolipids intake represents an average of 76 mg/day [24], corresponding to more than 25% of daily total sphingolipids.…”