Abstract
Plasmalogens are membrane glycerophospholipids with diverse biological functions. Reduced plasmalogen levels have been observed in metabolic diseases; hence, increasing their levels might be beneficial in ameliorating these conditions. Shark liver oil (SLO) is a rich source of alkylglycerols that can be metabolized into plasmalogens. This study was designed to evaluate the impact of SLO supplementation on endogenous plasmalogen levels in individuals with features of metabolic disease. In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study, the participants (10 overweight or obese males) received 4-g Alkyrol® (purified SLO) or placebo (methylcellulose) per day for 3 weeks followed by a 3-week washout phase and were then crossed over to 3 weeks of the alternate placebo/Alkyrol® treatment. SLO supplementation led to significant changes in plasma and circulatory white blood cell lipidomes, notably increased levels of plasmalogens and other ether lipids. In addition, SLO supplementation significantly decreased the plasma levels of total free cholesterol, triglycerides, and C-reactive protein. These findings suggest that SLO supplementation can enrich plasma and cellular plasmalogens and this enrichment may provide protection against obesity-related dyslipidemia and inflammation.
Highlights
Metabolic disease refers to a group of complex chronic conditions including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain forms of cancer [1]
A deficit of circulating plasmalogens has been identified as a feature of metabolic disease that is independent of age, sex, and BMI in multiple population and clinical cohorts [3,4,5,6,7]
When we looked into individual species, we observed that most of the PC(O) species were significantly elevated after Shark liver oil (SLO) supplementation, the greatest increase was observed for a species with a O-18:1 alkyl chain, PC(O-18:1/18:1)
Summary
Metabolic disease refers to a group of complex chronic conditions including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and certain forms of cancer [1]. These disorders share some common pathogenic features including altered lipid metabolism or dyslipidemia, which often leads to lipid accumulation at diverse cellular/tissue locations. Plasmalogens are a subclass of glycerophospholipids, primarily present as phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) species [8] They consist of a vinyl ether–linked fatty alcohol at the sn position and an acyl-linked fatty acid at the sn position of the glycerol backbone (Fig. 1C). The mechanistic basis of the beneficial effects observed with SLO supplementation is not well defined, possibly because of the lack of proper understanding of the impact of SLO alkylglycerols on endogenous lipid metabolism
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