Lipid decomposition studies in frozen fish have led to the development of a simple and rapid method for the extraction and purification of lipids from biological materials. The entire procedure can...

A rapid method of total lipid extraction and purification.

Preparation of fatty acid methyl esters and dimethylacetals from lipids with boron fluoride–methanol

Direct activation of calcium-activated, phospholipid-dependent protein kinase by tumor-promoting phorbol esters

The preparation and chemical characteristics of hemoglobin-free ghosts of human erythrocytes

Metabolomics studies hold promise for the discovery of pathways linked to disease processes. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) represents the leading cause of death and morbidity worldwide. Here we used a metabolomics approach to generate unbiased small-molecule metabolic profiles in plasma that predict risk for CVD. Three metabolites of the dietary lipid phosphatidylcholine—choline, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and betaine—were identified and then shown to predict risk for CVD in an independent large clinical cohort. Dietary supplementation of mice with choline, TMAO or betaine promoted upregulation of multiple macrophage scavenger receptors linked to atherosclerosis, and supplementation with choline or TMAO promoted atherosclerosis. Studies using germ-free mice confirmed a critical role for dietary choline and gut flora in TMAO production, augmented macrophage cholesterol accumulation and foam cell formation. Suppression of intestinal microflora in atherosclerosis-prone mice inhibited dietary-choline-enhanced atherosclerosis. Genetic variations controlling expression of flavin monooxygenases, an enzymatic source of TMAO, segregated with atherosclerosis in hyperlipidaemic mice. Discovery of a relationship between gut-flora-dependent metabolism of dietary phosphatidylcholine and CVD pathogenesis provides opportunities for the development of new diagnostic tests and therapeutic approaches for atherosclerotic heart disease.

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Gut flora metabolism of phosphatidylcholine promotes cardiovascular disease

A simple method for the isolation and purification of total lipides from animal tissues.

THE existence of brain lipides which contain sulphur, i.e. sulphatides, has been recognized since the time of THUDICHUM (1901). However, because of the difficulties encountered in their isolation, only one sulphatide has ever been isolated and characterized to any extent, i.e. the potassium salt of cerebron sulphuric acid prepared by BLIX (1933). BLIX found equimolar amounts of cerebronic acid, sphingosine, and galactose in hydrolysates of his compound. Since these were the same constituents as had been found in cerebrosides, he concluded that his compound had the structure of a cerebroside esterified with sulphuric acid (Fig. 1). THANNHAUSER, FELL~C and SCHMIDT (1955), using THANNHAUSER and BONCODDO'S method of preparation (1953), have shown that the esterification of the sulphuric acid occurs

G. H. Sloane Stanley

Papers

A simple method for the isolation and purification of total lipides from animal tissues.

A simple procedure for the preparation of brain sulphatides.

A Simple method for the isolation and purification of tatal lipides from animal tissues