Comprehensive Identification of Principal Lipid Classes and Tocochromanols in Silkworm (Antheraea pernyi and Bombyx mori) Pupae Oils

Abstract

A comprehensive identification of lipid compositions and tocochromanols inAntheraea pernyi (A. pernyi) and Bombyx mori (B. mori) pupae oil is reported in the present study. Fatty acid profiling shows that both oils contain high levels (79.67% vs 71.11%) of unsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic acid and linolenic acid. Moreover, linolenic acid is preferentially enriched at the sn-2 positions of triacylglycerols (TAGs). Liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis demonstrates that POO (TAG with one palmitoyl and two oleoyls) is the primary TAG form with percentages of 20.18% in A. pernyi and 15.00% in B. mori. The dominating phospholipid species are phosphatidylcholine (PC, 30.40% vs 54.61%) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE, 34.82% vs 20.39%). Four sterol constituents with total contents of 382.56 ± 3.12 and 371.65 ± 2.98 µg g −1 are identified and analyzed quantitatively. Additionally, the levels of tocochromanols (20.15 ± 0.89 vs 17.15 ± 0.71 mg g −1 ) are quantified in both silkworm pupae oils. Overall, silkworm oil acts as an enriched source of functional lipids and tocochromanols. Practical Applications: A systematic investigation on the principal lipid classes and tocochromanols of Antheraea pernyi pupae and Bombyx mori pupae oil is reported in this study.

Production and characterisation of high-quality silkworm pupal oil for omega-3 fatty acid supplementation

“…The crude SPO obtained from SE contained high levels of unsaturated fatty acids (71.16 ± 0.44%), especially polyunsaturated fatty acids (41.89 ± 0.78%), and low levels of saturated fatty acids (28.84 ± 0.44%). These values are close to those reported by Hu et al (2017) and Wang et al (2019). The major fatty acid was ALA (37.51 ± 0.49%), followed by oleic acid (28.05 ± 0.28%) and palmitic acid (24.35 ± 0.59%).…”

“…The tocopherol content was determined following the method described by Wang et al (2019) using HPLC equipped with a silica column (4.6 × 250 mm i.d., 5 µm particle size). n-Heptane containing 3.85% tetrahydrofuran was used as the mobile phase, where the flow rate was 1 mL/min.…”

“…The sterol content was determined following the method described by Wang et al (2019) using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) equipped with an Agilent DB-5MS UI column (30 m × 0.25 mm, 0.25 µm film thickness). Full-scan mode (m/z 30 -550) was recommended for all measurements.…”

Synthesis and Characterization of Epoxidized Silkworm Pupae Oil and Its Application as Polyvinyl Chloride

“…It is well-documented that silkworm pupae are enriched sources of lipids with a content of ~30% [11]. Speci cally, 70~80% of the fatty acid species are composed of oleic acid, linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid (ALA) [12]. Similar unsaturation degrees (iodine value) of SPO with soybean oil are reported in previous studies [13,14].…”

Silkworm Pupae: A Functional Food with Health Benefits for Humans

“…Phospholipids and five tocopherols are also present in silkworm pupae. The five tocopherols are α-Tocopherol, β-tocopherol, γ-tocopherol, γ-tocotrienol, and σ-tocopherol [ 28 ]. Rare dimethyladenosine derivatives are also found in silkworm pupae [ 37 ].…”