Separation of major polar lipids in Pecten maximus by high-performance liquid chromatography and subsequent determination of their fatty acids using gas chromatography.

An easy method for the separation of major polar lipid classes by HPLC is described. Maximum resolution was achieved by an automated combination of a silica gel column and a diol column. Polar lipid analysis of the larvae and gonads of Pecten maximus showed the presence of a particular glycolipid especially rich in 22:6(n - 3) and the predominance of 20:4(n - 6) in the phosphatidylinositol. The phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine (diacyl form + alkenylacyl) were the major fractions. The plasmalogen form (25% in larvae, 34% in gonads) was essentially composed of polyunsaturated fatty acids of 20 and 22 carbons in the sn-2 position.