F. B. Padley

Abstract: This review summarises the known effects of forages, animal fats or marine oils on bovine milk fat secretion and composition. Special attention is given to fatty acids that could play a positive role for human health, such as butyric acid, oleic acid, C18 to C22 polyunsaturated fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). The efficiency of the transfer of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids from diet to milk is reviewed. Milk fat from pasture fed cows seems to be higher in linolenic acid than milk fat from cows receiving preserved grass or maize, but the magnitude of this difference is limited. Indirect comparisons show that milk fat from maize silage diets is richer in short-chain FA and linoleic acid when compared to grass silage diets. Compared to fresh grass, grass silage favours myristic and palmitic acids at the expense of mono- and polyunsaturated FA, including CLA. Protected tallow allows for a large increase in milk fat yield, and in the percentage of milk stearic and oleic acids, at the expense of medium chain FA. Non-protected tallow has a similar effect on medium chain FA without increasing so much C18 FA yield, which explains that it does not increase milk fat yield. Dose–response curves of milk CLA are reviewed for marine oil supplements, as well as the relationship between milk CLA and trans-C18:1 contents. The potential of marine oil supplementation to increase the mean CLA content in cow milk fat is large (more than 300% above basal values). A specific role for dietary C20:5 n-3 in the sharp decrease in milk fat secretion after fish oil supplementation is suggested. However, there is a need to evaluate how the different feeding strategies could change the other aspects of milk fat quality, such as taste, oxidative stability or manufacturing value.

Abstract: It has been known for almost 25 years now that inclusion of intact phospholipids in the diet could improve culture performance of various freshwater and marine fish species. The primary beneficial effect was improved growth in both larvae and early juveniles, but also increased survival rates and decreased incidence of malformation in larvae, and perhaps increased stress resistance. Determination of absolute dietary requirements has been hampered by the use, in different dietary trials, of a wide range of phospholipid preparations that can vary greatly both in phospholipid content and class composition. Larval studies have been compromised further by the need on many occasions to supply phospholipid through enrichment of live feeds with subsequent re-modelling of the phospholipid and fatty acid compositions. Generally, the levels of phospholipid requirement are around 2–4% of diet for juvenile fish and probably higher in larval fish. The effects were restricted to young fish, as a requirement for dietary phospholipids has not been established for adult fish, although this has been virtually unstudied. As the majority of studies have used crude mixed phospholipid preparations, particularly soybean lecithin, but also other plant phospholipids and egg yolk lecithin, that are enriched in several phospholipids, it has been difficult to elucidate which specific phospholipid classes impart beneficial effects. Based on the few studies where single pure phospholipid species have been used, the rank order for efficacy appears to be phosphatidylcholine > phosphatidylinositol > phosphatidylethanolamine > phosphatidylserine. The efficacy of other phospholipid classes or sphingolipids is not known. The mechanism underpinning the role of the phospholipids in larval and early juvenile fish must also explain their lack of effect in adult fish. The role of phospholipids appears to be independent of fatty acid requirements although the presence of an unsaturated fatty acid at the sn-2 position may be important. Similarly, the phospholipid requirement is not related to the delivery of other essential dietary components such as the bases choline and inositol. Studies also suggested that the phospholipid effect was not due to generally enhanced emulsification and digestion of lipids. Rather the evidence led to the hypothesis that early developing stages of fish had impaired ability to transport dietary lipids away from the intestine possibly through limitations in lipoprotein synthesis. The current hypothesis is that the enzymic location of the limitation is actually in phospholipid biosynthesis, perhaps the production of the glycerophosphobase backbone and that dietary supplementation with intact phospholipids in larvae and juvenile fish compensated for this. Thus, dietary phospholipids increase the efficiency of transport of dietary fatty acids and lipids from the gut to the rest of the body possibly through enhanced lipoprotein synthesis.

Abstract: In the 40 years since the essentiality of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in fish was first established by determining quantitative requirements for 18:3n − 3 and 18:2n − 6 in rainbow trout, essential fatty acid (EFA) research has gone through distinct phases. For 20 years the focus was primarily on determining qualitative and quantitative EFA requirements of fish species. Nutritional and biochemical studies showed major differences between fish species based on whether C18 PUFA or long-chain (LC)-PUFA were required to satisfy requirements. In contrast, in the last 20 years, research emphasis shifted to determining “optimal” levels of EFA to support growth of fish fed diets with increased lipid content and where growth expectations were much higher. This required greater knowledge of the roles and functions of EFA in metabolism and physiology, and how these impacted on fish health and disease. Requirement studies were more focused on early life stages, in particular larval marine fish, defining not only levels, but also balances between different EFAs. Finally, a major driver in the last 10–15 years has been the unavoidable replacement of fish oil and fishmeal in feeds and the impacts that this can have on n − 3 LC-PUFA contents of diets and farmed fish, and the human consumer. Thus, dietary n − 3 in fish feeds can be defined by three levels. Firstly, the minimum level required to satisfy EFA requirements and thus prevent nutritional pathologies. This level is relatively small and easy to supply even with today's current high demand for fish oil. The second level is that required to sustain maximum growth and optimum health in fish being fed modern high-energy diets. The balance between different PUFA and LC-PUFA is important and defining them is more challenging, and so ideal levels and balances are still not well understood, particularly in relation to fish health. The third level is currently driving much research; how can we supply sufficient n − 3 LC-PUFA to maintain these nutrients in farmed fish at similar or higher levels than in wild fish? This level far exceeds the biological requirements of the fish itself and to satisfy it we require entirely new sources of n − 3 LC-PUFA. We cannot rely on the finite and limited marine resources that we can sustainably harvest or efficiently recycle. We need to produce n − 3 LC-PUFA de novo and all possible options should be considered.

Abstract: Interest in Lipid Based Drug Delivery (LBDD) has developed over the past decade fuelled by a better understanding of the multiple roles lipids may play in enhancing oral bioavailability. Moreover, the emergence of novel excipients with acceptable regulatory and safety profiles coupled with advances in formulation technologies have greatly improved the potential for successful lipid based formulations. With the growing interest in this field, there is an increasing need for guidelines in excipient selection and characterization; material handling, formulation design, and processing techniques to obtain effective and patient-compliant dosage forms. The aim of this review is to present the recent approaches in selecting the most appropriate lipid system(s); methods for characterization of their behavior in vitro and in vivo; and the current formulation and processing techniques to obtain various solid dosage forms.

Abstract: The expression of a plant (Umbellularia californica) medium-chain acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterase (BTE) cDNA in Escherichia coli results in a very high level of extractable medium-chain-specific hydrolytic activity but causes only a minor accumulation of medium-chain fatty acids. BTE9s full impact on the bacterial fatty acid synthase is apparent only after expression in a strain deficient in fatty acid degradation, in which BTE increases the total fatty acid output of the bacterial cultures fourfold. Laurate (12:0), normally a minor fatty acid component of E. coli, becomes predominant, is secreted into the medium, and can accumulate to a level comparable to the total dry weight of the bacteria. Also, large quantities of 12:1, 14:0, and 14:1 are made. At the end of exponential growth, the pathway of saturated fatty acids is almost 100% diverted by BTE to the production of free medium-chain fatty acids, starving the cells for saturated acyl-ACP substrates for lipid biosynthesis. This results in drastic changes in membrane lipid composition from predominantly 16:0 to 18:1. The continued hydrolysis of medium-chain ACPs by the BTE causes the bacterial fatty acid synthase to produce fatty acids even when membrane production has ceased in stationary phase, which shows that the fatty acid synthesis rate can be uncoupled from phospholipid biosynthesis and suggests that acyl-ACP intermediates might normally act as feedback inhibitors for fatty acid synthase. As the fatty acid synthesis is increasingly diverted to medium chains with the onset of stationary phase, the rate of C12 production increases relative to C14 production. This observation is consistent with activity of the BTE on free acyl-ACP pools, as opposed to its interaction with fatty acid synthase-bound substrates. Images