Polar lipid and fatty acid distribution in carotenolipoprotein complexes extracted from sea buckthorn fruits.

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L., fam. Elaeagnaceae) fruits are rich in pigments and lipoproteins located in membranes and the fleshy mesocarp. In spite of many reports concerning the neutral lipids in the mesocarp, no data about the polar lipids and their fatty acid composition are available even though they play important structural and physiological roles in cell membranes and may offer interesting applications as emulsifiers and nutrients in cosmetic preparations. Carotenolipoprotein complexes are located particularly in fruit membranes where polar lipids may function as bridge compounds between the polar (protein) and non-polar (carotenoid) moieties. The fatty acid compositions of total and individual polar lipids separated from carotenolipoprotein complexes were determined by HPTLC and GC. The polar lipids included 61% phospholipids and 39% galactolipids, which contained mainly 16:0, 16:1 (9c), 18:1 (9c), 18:1 (11c) and 18:2 (9c, 12c) fatty acids. Almost all polar lipids showed high ratios of 16:0/16:1 (11c) and 18:1 (9c)/18:1 (11c), and higher quantities of 18 carbon unsaturated fatty acids than of the saturated analogue. Galactolipids proved to be richest in 18:1 (9c) and 18:3 (9c, 12c, 15c) fatty acids, while phospholipids contained higher concentrations of 16:0 and 18:1 (9c).