Spatiotemporal Variation of Residual Cortisol Obstructs Nutrient Acquisition in Animal-Derived Foods by Perturbing Glycerophospholipid Metabolism

Abstract

Cortisol is inevitably secreted by pigs due to the physical and psychological stressors produced by mixed group transportation and preslaughter handling. Accumulated cortisol in animal tissues enters the human body through the food chain and entails potential risks to human health. An integrated lipidome and proteome analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of the spatiotemporal variation of residual cortisol on nutrient acquisition in pork. A total of 55 crucial lipid molecules associated with cortisol residue were identified based on debiased sparse partial correlation analysis. Label-free proteomics was applied to screen 58 differentially abundant proteins (including phospholipase A 2 , lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase, and CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase), indicating that cortisol residue perturbed the glycerophospholipid biosynthetic process and glycerophospholipid metabolic process. Cortisol induced downregulations of cPLA2 encoding genes and decreased phospholipase A 2 activity, resulting in the bioaccumulation of phosphatidylethanolamine (from 36.86 to 43.18 mg kg −1 ). Cortisol increased the activity of CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase by improving the availability of fatty acids and aggregating the inactive L-form (lipidindependent form) to the active H-form (lipid-associated form). The metabolic pathways perturbed by cortisol resulted in phosphatidylcholine degradation (from 93.73 to 58.28 mg kg −1 ) and lysophosphatidylcholine accumulation (from 3.39 to 5.16 mg kg −1 ). These findings indicated that cortisol residue deteriorated meat quality and obstructed nutrient acquisition in animal-origin foods.

Combined UPLC–QqQ-MS/MS and AP-MALDI Mass Spectrometry Imaging Method for Phospholipidomics in Obese Mouse Kidneys: Alleviation by Feeding Sea Cucumber Phospholipids

“…14,15 Alterations in the composition, distribution, and metabolism of PLs in cells, tissues, and body fluids are associated with diseases. 16 Several studies have demonstrated that lipid metabolism is disturbed in obese mice. However, the changes in the levels and spatial distribution of lipids, especially phospholipids, in kidneys are unclear.…”

“…In addition, differential expression of 44 lipid molecular species was observed in the adipose tissue of obese mice using matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI–MSI) . Lipids play an essential role in the kidney by occupying about 3% of the wet weight, of which phospholipids account for more than 50%. , Alterations in the composition, distribution, and metabolism of PLs in cells, tissues, and body fluids are associated with diseases . Several studies have demonstrated that lipid metabolism is disturbed in obese mice.…”