Lipid and fatty acid composition of hepatopancreatic brush-border membrane vesicles from the prawn Penaeus japonicus.

Brush-border membrane vesicles (BBMV) were isolated from prawn hepatopancreas by a procedure involving Mg2+ preparation. The lipid composition of hepatopancreatic BBMV (hBBMV) was examined by the Iatroscan TLC/FID technique, and the fatty acid profile of total lipids was determined by capillary gas chromatography. hBBMV were characterized by a high content of phospholipids and cholesterol. However, the cholesterol/phospholipid molar ratio is lower in prawn than in vertebrate BBMV, which agrees well with the membrane fluidity of BBMV from different sources. The fatty acid composition of hBBMV was similar to that in marine crustacean oils. The major fatty acids present were palmitic (16:0), palmitoleic (16:1n-7), stearic (18:0), oleic (18:1n-9), and eicosapentaenoic (20:5n-3) acids. The large amount of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids seems to be related to a high delta 5-desaturase activity in hBBMV.